This
story takes place approximately a year after the War of Nerves started, shortly
before Captain Scarlet and Rhapsody Angel became a couple.
CHAPTER 7
A “Captain Scarlet & the Mysterons” story
By Chris Bishop
The last words that Rhapsody
heard from the boys proved prophetic. Barely twenty minutes after the boat had
left dock, she heard distressing spitting sounds coming from the engine. She
steered the boat towards the embankment; wisely, she chose the other side of
the river, to make sure neither the Mysteronised commando nor the murdering
band of young creeps they had just escaped from would catch them unawares.
Rhapsody piloted the boat behind thick bushes, making sure they were invisible
from either banks or water.
After killing the
engine, Rhapsody scrutinised the area and listened carefully; all she was
hearing were sounds of nature: the wild current of the river, birds chirping,
wind blowing between trees. No engine noises could be heard, either from boat
or land vehicle, nor voices – or even crackling from firing weapons. Five
minutes earlier, they had passed under a wooden bridge, which seemed to mark
the limit of human civilisation. Now only the wild surrounded them, as they had
returned nearly as deep into the woods as they had been at the start of their
mission.
Although they were a
long way from being able to contact base and ask for help, Rhapsody reflected
that being away from any living soul was, for the moment, the best way for them
to keep safe. She decided it should stay that way until she knew from her
compatriot exactly what their situation was with the inhabitants of this area.
Rhapsody carefully
moored the boat to a thick root emerging from the surface of the water, and
then checked for the problem with the engine. She quickly discovered that the
tank was almost empty; the boys probably knew that fact for some reason –
perhaps they used this vessel on a regular basis. They certainly had been right
in saying it wouldn’t go far. She estimated there was about five minutes of
fuel left in the tank; ten, if she was optimistic.
She searched the various
compartments of the small boat; there was little of much use. A small toolbox, half-empty, offered very
little help. Another small box was
stacked under her bench and she opened it to examine the contents. She found an
old compass hidden under a dirty piece of cloth; it was working perfectly fine,
so she hung it around her neck by the string attached to it. There was a
razor-sharp knife in its leather sheath, probably used to gut fish, that she
also took, and a paper map of the area, well protected in a plastic bag. She
partially unfolded the map and glanced at it quickly, before deciding that it
was also worth keeping, and put it back into its pouch and then into the large
pocket of her trouser. Also underneath the same bench, she found a flask full
of water, and she took a large gulp of it, before choking in disgust; the water
was warm and bland. She put it aside
and, searching further, found a single fuel can. Hope flared up in her heart,
but quickly died out when she opened it: it was dry empty. In frustration, she
almost threw it overboard, but stopped herself just in time.
The last thing she
examined was the shotgun that had served her so well up until now; unfortunately,
there was only one projectile left in it.
She put it back in the bottom of the boat, chewing on her bottom lip.
She groaned. Why
couldn’t we have it easy for a change? she asked herself. There was no oar
in the boat – and even if there been any, she knew they would not have done her
any good; she wasn’t enough of an expert to be able to row into the wild
currents of this river. And she doubted
that Captain Scarlet would be that much good at it either.
She gave one glance at
her companion, who lay on his back at the other end of the boat, his head at a
crooked, apparently uncomfortable, angle. He had not regained consciousness
since he had fallen there, and that was starting to worry her. She carefully moved towards him and crouched
by his side. His eyes were closed and he was breathing regularly; he seemed so
peaceful, more like he was sleeping rather than being unconscious. Rhapsody
noticed the handcuff hanging loosely from his right wrist, and she frowned,
wondering what exactly could have happened to him since the moment they had
parted. He was wearing civilian clothing, instead of his camouflage uniform,
except for his boots – which, she noticed straight away, were not Spectrum
issue. The jeans were worn and faded, and that hideous black and red chequered
shirt he wore was dirty and torn in places.
At first glance, he didn’t look like he was
injured; the collar of his shirt was currently hiding his neck, where Rhapsody
had seen an ugly reddish bruise earlier on. She reached with her hand, with the
intention of pushing the collar aside to get a peek.
Scarlet suddenly opened
his eyes; with lightning reflexes, his hand caught her wrist, as he recoiled
from her; he was visibly startled, and was watching her with widened, wary
eyes. Rhapsody blinked at his uncharacteristic reaction; he was holding her so
tight, he was hurting her. She presented her free hand in a calming gesture.
“Hey, take it easy. It’s
only me. You know I’m not going to hurt you.” She saw the expression in his
eyes change, as he apparently recognised her. She offered a reassuring smile.
“I only meant to check you out.”
Scarlet had recognised
in the shadow leaning over him the beautiful young woman who had saved him from
Jasper and his gang. Certainly, he imagined, after such a feat, she couldn’t be
a threat to him; beside, that smile of hers was as reassuring as can be. He let
go of her wrist, and she grimaced a thankful smile, while reaching for it with
her other hand to rub it.
“You’ve got quite a
grip,” she said with just a note of reproach in her voice. He felt contrite,
but didn’t have time to apologise, as she approached him, and her hand reached
once more to his neck. “Now, hold still, please.” He let her examine him,
watching her closely, as her fingers gently stroked his skin. He first noticed
the concern on her face, which then gradually morphed into an expression of
wonder.
“It’s already gone,” she
commented. He gave her an enquiring look and she explained: “That rope burn you
had, only a couple of minutes ago. It’s
completely faded – without a single trace.”
His hand reached up and
rubbed his neck; he didn’t feel any bruises under his fingers; she was
right.
He couldn’t help a
shiver going through him, concerned that witnessing this strange phenomenon
might distress her in some way. However,
he saw neither apprehension nor distrust in her beautiful features. That gave
him some assurance, and he slowly pushed himself into a seated position.
“How are you feeling?”
she asked.
“Better,” he answered.
He was surprised that his voice sounded this good, after his throat had nearly
been crushed so brutally. However, it was dry as sandpaper. “Thirsty, though…”
He saw the young woman
take an old leather flask from the floor of the boat; she presented it to him, removing
the plug. “I found this. We’re in luck; it’s full of more-or-less fresh water.
Well, it’s drinkable, anyway.”
Scarlet nodded his
thanks, took the flask with both hands and drank greedily. The water was
rather stale, and not very cold, but as she had said, it was drinkable, and it
did his sore throat a lot of good.
“Take it easy,” the
young woman advised. “Between the two of
us, we have to make it last. We don’t know how long we’ll be stuck in this
swamp, and I’m not quite sure we’ll find water we’ll be able to drink in this
area.”
Scarlet lowered the
flask and handed it back to her.
“Thanks,” he said, “for
saving me from those vultures.”
She shook her head,
while pushing the plug into the flask, before putting it down against one of
her feet. “What else could I have done? I couldn’t very well leave you with
that rope around your neck, could I? That didn’t look very comfortable...”
He smiled weakly, and
passed his finger round inside his collar, making the handcuff attached to his
wrist jingle. “No, it certainly wasn’t.”
“Here,” she offered,
pointing to the shackle. “Let me get
this off you…”
Scarlet glanced at the
handcuff, then back at the young woman; he marked a second’s hesitation, before
presenting his hand to her, a little uncertainly, wondering why it didn’t seem
to alarm her. He watched as she took a
pin from her hair, untwisted it and inserted one end of it into the lock. He looked, mystified, as she expertly moved
it around, and then he heard a faint but very distinct click. The metal band opened around his wrist and
she delicately removed it.
She had done it even
faster than he had done it himself with the other wrist.
“That’s quite a skill
you have there,” he said matter-of-factly.
Rhapsody stared at him,
wondering if by any chance it was the first time he had witnessed her pick a
lock; she couldn’t recall having done it in front of him before, so she
shrugged dismissively.
“How did you come to wearing these?” she
asked, showing him the handcuffs. “They
are obviously police-issue.”
She saw Scarlet
hesitate. “The sheriff of Les Arbrisseaux… he arrested me,” he confided.
Rhapsody nodded,
recalling: “Those boys said you killed him – the sheriff. Is it true?”
Scarlet frowned. “No, I
did not…” She had asked that question, in such an oddly natural voice; again,
she didn’t seem concerned. For all she knew, he could be a very dangerous
murderer. He found it curious – and even
a little disturbing.
“Why did he arrest you?”
she persisted.
Scarlet hesitated again.
“It’s rather a complicated story…”
She sat on her heels.
“I’m listening.”
“Well… It’s more than
likely that I did look guilty in the sheriff’s eyes,” he confessed
clumsily, “considering the events, and the boys’ accusations…” Seeing his companion’s inquiring look, he
explained awkwardly: “they told him I had killed Old Joe Benson.”
Rhapsody, of course, had
no idea of whom he was talking. “Who is – or rather was – this Joe Benson?”
“An old man… who lived
alone in the swamp. I don’t know that much about him, frankly. Except that he
found me, when I was injured – and that he took me to his cabin, and took care
of me. He told me he saw me falling from a helicopter.”
Rhapsody nodded once
more, thoughtfully. So this was the reason why neither Montgomery’s commandos
nor herself had found Scarlet where they knew he was supposed to be after that
terrible fall. This Joe Benson had beaten them to him and had taken him
away. That explained the traces they had
seen. “And did you kill him?” she asked.
“No, of course I
didn’t!” he vehemently protested. Rhapsody noted that he sounded irritated by
such an assumption – which, from her point of view, was a natural one – and she
wondered why exactly. He gave a low snort.
“They did – the boys.
Jasper – the leader – he shot Joe with his own rifle. I saw the whole
thing.”
“They shot him in front
of you?”
“They didn’t know I was
there at the time. But when they realised it… they decided to pin the murder on
me.”
Scarlet noticed the strange
way the young woman was now looking at him. He thought he saw scepticism in her
eyes, as she thoughtfully stroked her chin. He frowned with exasperation. “You
don’t believe me.”
“It’s not that.” Rhapsody wondered why Scarlet seemed so on
edge. He was on the defensive, appeared
wary of her. That wasn’t like him at
all.
“I can see you’re
unsure,” he moved on. “Why would have I killed Joe, to begin with? I couldn’t
do such a thing! The man took care of my
injuries.”
Rhapsody sighed. “Look,
it’s not that I don’t believe you… Excuse me, but you have to admit it could be
possible. This Joe could have been a Mysteron, for all I know. You would then have had cause to kill him.”
The word ‘Mysteron’
piqued Scarlet’s interest. He had no idea who or what a ‘Mysteron’ could be,
but he had heard the word before. It was
MacGibbons who had pronounced it, just a few minutes before those strangers,
who claimed to be Spectrum, had killed him.
He didn’t know why, but
hearing that word again was making him feel very uneasy.
“Mysteron?” he repeated,
watching the woman closely – and even a little suspiciously – watching for any
reaction she might have.
“Yes… And the same goes
for the sheriff, as a matter of fact. That would explain why he arrested you in
the first place... and chose not to believe you.”
Rhapsody noticed the odd
way Scarlet was now looking at her. It was beyond being wary; she could read
distrust in his eyes, and she couldn’t understand why. Maybe he was thinking she might be a Mysteron?
She sighed again. “Look,
this is all so confusing. I feel like I’ve stumbled right into the middle of a
film. I’m really having trouble
following your story. And I really can’t
work out why the sheriff would believe those boys over you.”
“Is it so surprising?”
he replied. “I’m a stranger in these parts, with no identification… Those boys are from around here. That said, the sheriff did say they were
usually bad news.”
Rhapsody shook her head.
“Maybe you didn’t have your I.D., but still, didn’t you try to explain to the
sheriff who you were?”
Scarlet quivered at her
words. “Who I am?”
“Why, yes. Once he had
realised who you were, the sheriff would probably have acted differently
towards you. All he needed to do was to check you out with a Spectrum office –”
This time, Scarlet
tensed, staring intensely at his companion, and interrupted her in
mid-sentence: “Spectrum?”
She frowned, surprised
by his reaction. “Captain… Are you sure
you’re feeling better?”
“I am wondering that,”
he answered truthfully. He ruffled his hair, trying to make sense of her words,
and then, suddenly realising something, he stared straight at her. “You called me ‘Captain’.”
“Yes…” she answered,
visibly uncertain what he was driving at.
“And I think… you called
me that, when you came to my rescue earlier…”
That was more a
statement than a question. Rhapsody was now totally perplexed. “Well, what
should I call you?” she asked. “We’re on assignment. I think I should address
you formally. I can’t very well call you by your name and –”
“You know me.”
Realisation had suddenly dawned on Scarlet.
The young woman facing
him frowned deeply. “What?”
“You know me!” Scarlet
repeated, excitedly, shifting his position on the boat so quickly that he made
it rock dangerously. He leaned towards her and she almost drew back in
surprise. “The way you speak to me… the way you’re acting… It’s not how someone
would behave with a complete stranger! Thank you, God – you really know me!”
“What is this nonsense?” she asked, a little
irritably. “Of course I know you! We’ve been working together for years!”
“Really?” Scarlet was
ecstatic. He chuckled. “Oh, this is too good to be true! Am I glad I found
you!”
“It would rather seem to me that it’s me who found you, and not
the other way round. Come on, Paul… Will you tell me what you’re on about?”
“Paul?’ Scarlet repeated
with even more excitement. “Is that my name, then?”
Rhapsody opened her eyes
wide. There was something really wrong going
on. She couldn’t explain the reason behind Scarlet’s uncharacteristic
behaviour. “What is it with you?” she finally asked.
Scarlet became hesitant;
he slowly shook his head, trying to avoid her eyes, almost embarrassed to speak
out. “I’ve… er… I’ve kind of lost my memory.”
“Kind of –” Everything seemed
to freeze in the short seconds that followed. Rhapsody stared at her companion
with uncertainty, as her mind was trying to process what he had just revealed
her. She found it difficult to accept.
She gave a nervous chuckle. “You are kidding, right?”
He looked hurt that she
doubted him. He sat back in frustration. “Nobody seems to believe me, each time
I tell them I don’t remember anything,” he grumbled. “I was hoping it would be different with
you.”
“You are not
kidding?” Rhapsody repeated, in shock. When he shook his head, she insisted:
“You’re amnesiac? Really? I mean… You
don’t remember… me?”
“No… I can’t even remember who I am – let alone
who you might be.” Scarlet smiled
thinly, looking her up and down, and finally giving her an appreciative nod.
“To my regret, I have to say.”
Rhapsody rolled her
eyes. “Oh, please, don’t be like that… It’s not really the time.” She glared at
him suspiciously. “Are you sure you’re not pulling my leg?”
“Now this is something I
can’t remember, but am I really the kind of person who would joke about this?”
“For such a serious
subject, no… At least I don’t think so. And you certainly wouldn’t fool around
in the middle of an assignment. You’re
too professional for that.”
“Thank you – I think.”
Scarlet paused a second, pondering. “That’s the second time you’ve mentioned
an… ‘assignment’? What does it mean?”
Rhapsody marked a pause,
hesitating, wondering how she should enlighten him. “It’s rather complicated to
explain... I don’t know exactly where to start.”
“How about by explaining
to me who we are?” Scarlet suggested. “What is your name?”
“I’m Rhapsody Angel.”
He scowled. “That’s not
your real name,” he reflected. “It’s pretty, but doesn’t sound very serious.”
She rolled her eyes
again. She had the definite impression he was sweet-talking her. “That’s my codename,”
she clarified. “I’m a pilot in the
Spectrum Angels fighter squad. My real name is Dianne… Dianne Simms.”
Scarlet smiled lightly.
“That’s more like it.” He frowned anew. “Spectrum? We are Spectrum?”
“We’re agents of
Spectrum,” Rhapsody explained. “You are Captain Scarlet. You’re a colour – ”
“… A colour-coded
officer of Spectrum,” Scarlet completed for her, nodding thoughtfully.
“You remember that?”
Rhapsody asked hopefully.
Scarlet hesitated. “Not
exactly, no… I heard it being said by someone.”
“Did you? And in what circumstances?”
“I…” Scarlet stopped,
hesitating again. He looked straight at
Rhapsody. “Maybe I can explain that later?” he suggested. “First, I would like
to know about myself. Please. I’m desperate to know exactly
who I am. Scarlet… That’s my name, then?”
Rhapsody stared
pensively at him. She had to admit, she was eager to know exactly what had
happened to him, since the moment they had lost contact; but he looked so
helpless and his expression was so pleading right now that she felt she
couldn’t deny him his request. He was right, anyway. He deserved to know about himself, and that
was certainly where she needed to start.
She sighed and nodded
her agreement.
“Your real name is Paul
Metcalfe,” she started softly. “Captain Scarlet is your Spectrum codename.”
Rhapsody waited, hoping that this revelation would jog his memory. He was scowling deeply, making an obvious
effort to remember. “That doesn’t remind you of anything?” she finally asked.
“I wish it would,”
Scarlet replied, scratching his head, feeling a slight discomforting headache
coming, as he was trying to recall something from his memory. “Paul… Well, that
sounds common enough… I did remember the name Scarlet.”
“Did you?”
“No.” He shook his head.
“No, that’s not quite true. I didn’t actually remember it. I saw that
name… on small metallic tags that were hanging from my neck.”
“Your Spectrum dog
tags,” Rhapsody realised. Her hand went to her neck, and tugged on a small
chain, pulling out her own tags hidden under her sweater. She showed them to Scarlet. “Like these?”
He nodded. “Exactly,
yes. I don’t have mine anymore. The
sheriff kept them. I don’t know where he might have put them.” He scratched his
head again. The slight discomfort transformed into a swift and sudden twang of
pain. He grunted, screwing his eyes shut, clenching his teeth.
“What is it?” Rhapsody
asked, witnessing this. “Are you all right?”
“I have headaches
whenever I try to remember,” he explained.
“Headaches?” she
repeated, frowning in perplexity.
Scarlet wasn’t a man to
get headaches. Except, possibly, when he
felt some danger coming or there were Mysterons in the vicinity. She found
herself looking around, surreptitiously, but she couldn’t see anything out of
the ordinary; her companion didn’t notice anything.
“Yeah… They’re a
nuisance sometimes. It’s not too bad, at the moment. It’s dissipating, anyway…” Scarlet opened his
eyes to face a concerned-looking Rhapsody. “I do have a vague recollection of
being a soldier,” he said. “I saw myself following some kind of… training, I
believe…”
Rhapsody nodded
thoughtfully. “You are a soldier,” she confirmed. “Or rather, you were. You
were an officer in the World Army Air Force, before you were recruited by
Spectrum. What you recalled might have been your training in the army. Or the
further training you were given, when you joined Spectrum.”
“Spectrum is a military
outfit?”
“Para-military. We’re an
international anti-terrorist organisation, answerable only to the World
President.”
“Sounds very serious...
and important. And these Mysterons you mentioned – they’re terrorists?”
Rhapsody hesitated once
more. “Of a sort. But please, continue… what do you remember, exactly?”
“Not much…” He looked down at the handcuffs lying at the
bottom of the boat. “Just enough to know how to unlock these. But that was purely instinctive.”
“Military training would
do that to you,” she reflected, with a faint smile. “You would do things out of
instinct.”
“Is that where you learned
it, too?”
“No, my training was
different. I was a kind of detective… a
few years back.”
“A police detective?”
“No… more like the
private sort.”
“And you’re a pilot now?
You certainly get around…”
She frowned. “Please, don’t
digress. Tell me what else you remember.”
“As I said – not that
much. Only flashbacks like this one… Unfortunately not enough to help me work
out who I really am.”
“You had other
flashbacks?”
Scarlet hesitated. “They
were only a few images…” He shook his head. “Most of them of violence and
pain. I… saw myself falling. Maybe it was that fall from the helicopter?”
Rhapsody nodded
thoughtfully. The thought came to her that it was also quite possible that
Scarlet might have recalled his first deadly fall, many months back – the one
that had freed him from Mysteron control. But just as she considered that, she
wondered how much he remembered of that ‘incident’ in the first place. He had
always said that he couldn’t recall anything of the time he was a slave of the
Mysterons. Maybe that specific memory
was not exactly absent, but simply buried deep within his mind. And in his effort to remember about himself,
he could have accessed it somehow – or at least a particularly acute moment of
this hidden memory.
In frustration, Rhapsody
threw her hands up in the air. “HOW could this have happened? Why can’t
it ever be easy, for a change?”
“Do you mean to say it’s
always like this?” Scarlet inquired worriedly.
“When it comes to you,
more often than not.”
He scowled. “Now, that’s
reassuring.”
“How could this even
happen to you?” Rhapsody continued.
“Do you know how you could possibly have lost your memory?”
He hesitated again,
thinking. “I thought that maybe that fall could have caused it?” he suggested.
Rhapsody was doubtful.
“I don’t think that would be sufficient.”
She seemed so certain of
what she was saying, that again, Scarlet regarded her suspiciously. She knew
something she wasn’t telling him. “Why?
Wouldn’t that be sufficient to kill anyone, to begin with?”
“Captain, in your case –”
“What do you know about
my case?” he interrupted suddenly.
It was Rhapsody’s turn
to hesitate. “It is… difficult to explain…”
Scarlet realised that
his suspicions about her were right: she did
know something. “There’s a lot of that with you, isn’t it? Or with me, to be exact.” He narrowed his
eyes, watching her attentively. “Does it have to do with this… peculiar condition of mine?” he asked in
a low voice. “You know about that too, don’t you? The way I… heal fast?”
Rhapsody noted Scarlet’s
sombre and cagey expression. She paused for a moment, wondering how exactly she
should tackle the subject. There was no point denying the truth that she indeed
knew, but in his present state, should she tell him everything there was about himself? She doubted he would be able to understand it
all – or even accept it.
She opted for caution,
and simply nodded at his question, very slowly. “I imagine that, being
amnesiac, finding out about your… condition was pretty much of a shock,” she said
musingly.
Scarlet blinked, now
having the confirmation that she knew. It was surprising to realise she didn’t
seem bothered by this; she seemed to find it very much normal.
This was a curious, yet
fascinating, young woman.
“What is it with me?”
Scarlet asked. “This is not… natural…
Right?”
Rhapsody smiled
lightly. Seeing him so confused was
certainly disconcerting. She wasn’t used to it. “For you, it is. You are… well,
as you said, you heal fast. Faster than any other human being. And you’re
tougher than most. It takes… a lot to
hurt you.”
He scoffed. “I think I
already worked that out! But why? How is it possible?”
“That’s a power… a gift
you have received.”
“A gift?”
She nodded, her expression
growing sombre. “One that was given to you by the Mysterons.”
“Them again,” Scarlet
groused. “Who are they? Exactly what do they have to do with this?”
Rhapsody paused
slightly. “Well, this is rather –”
“… A long story, yeah,”
Scarlet interrupted with some irritation. “Okay, I get it, already.” He leaned forward, and scrutinized her. “Why
do I get the uncomfortable feeling I would not like whatever explanation you
give me about this?”
“Because you’re probably
right?” Rhapsody smiled, almost apologetically. “You usually are… especially
when it comes to the Mysterons.”
“I don’t know why, but I
don’t find that reassuring in the least.” Scarlet sat back, scowling deeply.
“Well, at least, I know now I wasn’t going crazy. After what I experienced,
with all those wounds healing so unnaturally fast... I was beginning to think I
was losing my mind.”
“What did you
experience, exactly?” Rhapsody asked him. “How did you find out about... this?”
“Accidentally, of course. The first time I woke up, I had a broken leg
– I remember that vividly. I must have lost consciousness after that… But when
I woke up again, my leg was healed. More than that, there was no scar, no mark,
nothing on my body to indicate I had taken a fall from a helicopter. If that
really happened, that is.”
“It did. I saw it all.”
Rhapsody shook her head. “There was nothing I could do to help you. Mind you, at that point, I had problems of my
own, trying to evade missiles that same helicopter was shooting at my plane.”
“Is that where you got hurt?”
he asked, pointing to her wrapped arm.
She waved dismissively.
“When I ejected and ended up here, yes.
But that’s only a scratch. What else happened to you?”
“I got shot…” Scarlet
began.
“… You got shot?”
“By the sheriff. And the
wound healed itself. Apparently, I woke up – yet again – in the hospital’s
morgue, and scared a nurse stiff. I don’t remember that.”
“Someone else witnessed
your healing abilities?” Rhapsody asked in alarm.
“Why do you think those boys were calling me a
freak?” Scarlet replied with a frown.
She answered with a
scowl of her own. She suspected something must have happened, but she never
imagined it had gone to that extent. “Who else knows?” she asked.
“The sheriff,” Scarlet answered after a second
or two. “And his deputy…” He hesitated a moment longer. He could see this
subject was bothering the young woman seated in front of him. There was now a dark, concerned expression on
her beautiful face.
“Is there someone else?”
she asked insistently.
“There was the doctor,”
he finally said.
Rhapsody stared at him
in disbelief. This was even worse than
she imagined. “You saw a doctor?”
“I told you I scared a
nurse in the hospital’s morgue,” Scarlet reminded her.
“He must have examined
you,” Rhapsody remarked.
“I imagine. I mean… I
don’t really know exactly. Apparently, they must have believed me dead, if they
put me in the morgue. And he did come to see me when I was in jail…”
“Great,” Rhapsody
grumbled. “The sheriff, his deputy, a doctor and a nurse… And these murdering
bastards who tried to hang you up to dry…
That’s way too many people. The
colonel will not be happy.”
“The colonel?”
“Our commander, Colonel
White. He insists – quite rightly! –
that knowledge of your retrometabolism must be Spectrum’s best kept secret.
That so many prominent people have witnessed what you can do will not please
him.”
“What kind of a word is
that, ‘retrometabolism’?” Scarlet shrugged almost irritably. “It’s not as if
there was anything I could do to prevent them seeing it, you know – I didn’t
even know about it supposedly being a secret to begin with.”
“I know. Sorry, Captain, I didn’t mean to blame you –”
“And I wouldn’t be too
quick to call Les Arbrisseaux a
‘prominent place’,” Scarlet continued without giving her the chance to speak
further. “From what I could judge of it, it’s a very small town, which has very
little truck with civilisation. Beside, I’ll remind you that the sheriff is
dead – although it’s quite sad, he was a brave man, all in all. And his deputy
is dead too.”
“The deputy is dead
too?” Rhapsody repeated after him, opening her eyes wide. “Don’t tell me you’re
accused of his death as well!”
He looked even sombre
than before. “Seeing how my luck is going, that’s probably what will happen.
No, it was those guys on the road, who the sheriff thought were Spectrum –”
Rhapsody cut him off,
perplexed by his words: “Hang on… What guys?”
“They were dressed as
military commandos – and they were armed with heavy weapons. They –”
“Montgomery and his
men!” Rhapsody realised quickly.
“I take it you know
them, then?”
“I do know them… and you
do too. And they certainly are not Spectrum.”
Scarlet nodded. “I think
I’d worked that out already. I had this strange feeling about them – that they
were bad news. Who are they? What do they
want from me? I –”
“Paul, stop.”
Interrupting him anew, Rhapsody extended her hands and took Scarlet’s; she
looked straight into his eyes, a new sense of urgency now imposing itself on
her. Silenced, he looked back at her,
his expression one of loss and bewilderment. She felt her heart going out to
him, deeply aware that this amnesia was an unusual experience for him, which
was making him unexpectedly vulnerable.
This was making their
mutual situation even worse than she originally thought; and they still had
their mission to complete. She had yet
to ask him about the microchip, and somehow, she had the distinct impression he
would not even know what she was talking about.
“You’re understandably
confused,” Rhapsody told him gently. “And quite frankly, I am too… I think we’d better start at the beginning…
Each of us, telling our part of the story in as much detail as we can? Maybe
then, we’ll get a better understanding of exactly what’s going on?” She gave
him a kind and encouraging smile. “And maybe that would help jog your memory?”
He paused, pondering,
and then agreed in a very low voice: “I
would very much like it if that happened.”
He nodded at her. “I think you should go first. You’re the only one of us
who knows who we are, and why
we’re here, to begin with.”
She agreed, and started
her story.
It only took two or
three violent shoves from Jamie Lewis, easily the strongest member of the gang,
before the door opened wide, and the boys were able to gain access to the small
isolated house by the river. As Jamie had said earlier, there was no-one home,
so the gang entered as if they were in their own home, dirtying the floor and
carpet with their muddy feet. Just for the fun of it, Dallas Fenmore gave a
slap to a nearby lamp that went crashing down, with a loud sound, while
Scarecrow grabbed a beer from a half-used six-pack left by the sofa’s
side.
Jasper perused the
place, and then went directly to the weapons cabinet, which stood at the far
end of the living room; the rifles and handguns were displayed through the
glass windows like so many trophies. When he tried to open the small doors, he
found them locked, but he quickly found a solution to his problem, and slammed
the butt of his own rifle against the window, which shattered into countless
shards. He put his rifle down and started selecting weapons from the
collection.
While Jasper went in
search of ammunition in the drawers of the desk by the cabinet, Jamie stood in
awe in front of a crossbow and a quiver full of arrows, hanging on the opposite
wall. He removed both items from their
hooks, grinning approvingly.
“I bet this beauty does
damage,” he said, putting his eye to the eyepiece and casually taking aim at
Johnny Monroe.
The latter snapped at him
angrily: “Point that thing elsewhere, you jerk!
What if it goes off?”
“Now who’s the jerk?”
Jamie laughed, lowering the crossbow. “The damned thing is not armed, nitwit!
It certainly can’t hurt you!”
“Stop bickering, you
two.” Jasper distributed weapons and ammunition around, keeping for himself a
gleaming, brand new rifle that obviously had not been used very often. “Break a
few things, guys. Make it look like this place was robbed. And make sure not to leave any
fingerprints.”
The others approved, and
Johnny and Jamie started turning the furniture over, and throwing things
against the walls. Dallas was quietly
inserting bullets into the rifle Jasper just handed him. “McCullen won’t be
back for a week or two,” he commented. “It’ll be a long time before someone
notices we came here at all.”
“So what do we do from
here?” Scarecrow asked, using his knife to puncture the sofa. “Where do you
think the freak and the doll have gone to now?”
“Well, they certainly
can’t return to town,” Jamie remarked.
“They might try to reach
civilisation?” Johnny suggested. “I
mean, they don’t need to go to town for that.”
Jasper shook his head.
“They went upstream, towards north, going deeper into the bayou. They’re a long
way from civilisation there. Considering they don’t know the area, they could
go in circles a long time, or even die there before they found their way out.”
Jamie scoffed. “They
wouldn’t do us that service…”
“That’s why we need to
find them.” Jasper loaded his newly acquired rifle. “We know the place better than them.”
“But the swamp’s large,”
Scarecrow reasoned. “We don’t know where they would be heading.”
“You know McCullen is an
old miser,” Jasper replied. “He never puts too much fuel into his boat, ‘cause
he knows people around here might use it instead of him…”
“Yeah, like us!” laughed
Dallas.
“… So they’ll run out of
gas pretty soon. They’re probably already out as we speak. They can’t row on that river, even if they
had paddles to begin with; it’s way too wild.
So the only solution they’ll have will be to beach the boat, and go on
foot.”
“The question is what
side of the river will they choose to come ashore?” Jamie remarked.
“That’s why we’ll split
into two groups,” Jasper moved on. “We find the boat, and then we’ll look for
their traces. My guess is they’re not stupid enough to dare get too far away
from the river and beside, there’s not that many footpaths they could use. So
they’ll be following those, to avoid stepping into whatever danger the swamp
might be hiding. We’ll simply do the
same. We’ll find them, kill them, and throw their bodies into the deepest
quicksand pond we can find. Nobody will
ever hear of them ever again.”
“It might still take
some time to get our hands on them,” Scarecrow insisted.
“Look, if you have a
better idea –”
Scarecrow backed away a
step, as Jasper turned fiercely towards him; he didn’t like the flash of anger
he could see in his friend’s eyes. He
could easily read murder in them.
He reckoned it was far
better that the strangers receive the full brunt of Jasper’s rage than himself.
“No, no,” Scarecrow
replied hastily. “Just thinking out loud, that’s all. I’ll follow whatever
plans you have.”
Jasper scoffed angrily.
“We don’t have a choice, anyway.”
“So we do what exactly?”
Jamie asked. “Follow the river upstream, until we find them, or the boat?”
“Yeah, that’s what we’ll
do. Jamie, you and Scarecrow will cross Devil’s Bridge and follow the bank on
the other side. Dallas and I will check
this side.”
“What about me?” Johnny
suddenly said, noting he was left out. “which team do I go with?”
“None. You’ll go back to the sheriff’s car. I want you to clean up the mess.”
Johnny frowned. “What do
you mean?”
“Hide the ORVs where
they can’t be found. Throw them in the
river if need be, and erase all traces of ‘em.”
“Throw them in… Wait a sec, one of them is mine!” Johnny
protested.
Jasper turned angrily to
him. “You want to run the risk of ending up in jail?” he barked. “They find the
machines, they’ll know we were there! They’re useless anyway, the state they’re
in right now.”
“Yeah,” Jamie grumbled,
“thanks to that crazy chick…”
“We have to get rid of
them machines. That’s small price to pay, Johnny-Boy, and besides, when this is
all over, you’ll have enough dough to buy yourself ten bikes!” He pushed a
handgun into his friend’s hand. “Here! This might be handy if you find yourself
in front of unwanted witnesses.”
“Think you can handle
it?” Jamie cackled behind him. “So far, you’ve been pretty much useless…”
Johnny gave him a
murderous look. “Shut up, Lewis. I can use
this as well as you…” He cocked the
hammer. “If anyone sees me, he’ll be history.”
Jasper smiled evilly.
“That’s a good boy… Oh, and check the sheriff’s car as well… see if there’s
anything in there that might be either useful… or incriminating. If you know
what incriminating means!”
“I do know,” Johnny
replied heatedly. “I’m not that stupid!”
Jamie chuckled. “You’re
certainly hiding it well…”
“Watch it, you –”
“That’s enough!” Jasper
snapped again, irate at his companions’ bickering. “We have stuff to do, and
we’d better make it fast, if we want to have this done before nightfall.” He flicked his cell phone. “We’ll keep in
touch with this. The first team to find either the boat or our two lovebirds
will call the other.”
“I might have some fun
before I call you,” Jamie said with an evil sneer. “That girl owes me a bike,
and she’s gonna pay with interest…”
“Don’t be cocky,” Jasper
advised, pointing a warning finger at him. “They’re armed, and she already
showed she can handle that shotgun. And we know her boyfriend can be a handful.
You just follow them and keep them in your sight. Wait for us before moving
in.”
Jamie shrugged
dismissively. He slung the quiver over his shoulder, and rested the crossbow
across his arms. “Whatever you say…”
“We’ll soon get our hands on what we’ve been
working so hard to get,” Jasper added, “but that won’t be before we tie up all
our loose ends… Now let’s go and get
this business settled.”
* * *
“I can scarcely believe
the mess we’re in,” said Rhapsody Angel, in reaction to Captain Scarlet’s
story. He had just completed it, seconds ago, just after she had given him her
own account of their situation.
Upon hearing her words,
he stared at her in bafflement.
“You can’t
believe it? You do realise, of course, that your story is even harder to
believe?” He shook his head doubtfully.
“Earth, at war with aliens from another planet? From… Mars, specifically?”
Rhapsody had told him
about the Mysterons, and he had listened to her with absolute perplexity. She
could see in his face that he could hardly believe his ears, but he had not
interrupted her. He had no reaction when she mentioned – without going into too
much detail – how they had ‘used him’ for their own purposes, and that it was
on that occasion that he had received that ability he had discovered – to heal
from any injury, however severe it was. He had waited until now to voice his
doubts; considering his usually impulsive temperament, that was something of an
achievement.
He was sceptical, of
course, but he couldn’t very well deny the truth.
“If not for those
healing powers I have – that you said they gave me –”
“Unwittingly, I’m sure,”
Rhapsody quickly pointed out. “They wouldn’t have given them to you if they
thought you would have used them against them. Or that you would escape them.”
“Even so, you have to
admit this is still very hard to swallow.”
“Do you have a better
way to explain your powers, then?” Rhapsody challenged him.
He pondered that. “Genetic
engineering?” he suggested. “And I don’t mean, performed by aliens… something
more down to Earth?” It was her turn to give him a doubtful look. He shrugged.
“Or maybe I’m some kind of mutant…”
Rhapsody chuckled,
almost despite herself. “You read too many comic books.”
“I wouldn’t know about
that. Remember? I’m amnesiac.”
She smiled,
compassionately. “Paul, this is real. All of what I told you. The
Mysterons. The War of Nerves. What you experienced in their hands changed
you forever. I am not pulling your leg,
this is the truth. You have to believe me.”
Seeing him so sombre and pensive, she reached out and took his hands
between hers, like she had done before.
“You have to trust me,” she said, with more emphasis.
He lowered his eyes,
chewing on his bottom lip. “All right,” he said in a low voice, before looking
at her again. “I believe you, however preposterous this all seems. I don’t know
why, but even if I don’t remember you, I feel like I should trust you.”
The intense way he was
looking at Rhapsody made her lower her eyes slightly. “I don’t think it will be
long before you remember me,” she said. “Then you’ll see you were right to
trust me.”
He smiled
laconically. “If you say so. These Mysterons… I guess you don’t know how they
actually managed to do this to me? You said they took control of my body and
mind, so that I would follow their orders. They brainwashed me, in some way?
But I think I’m right in saying that’s obviously not all they did to me, for me
to end up this way.”
Rhapsody hesitated. She had told but a fraction of the story to
Scarlet. How could she explain to him that the Mysterons actually had killed
him, in order to take control of him?
That this body wasn’t his original one – but an exact replica that his
persona now accidentally inhabited? That he not only ‘healed fast’, but that he
was virtually indestructible, that he could also cheat death itself, and return
to life, if he should ‘die’? As she
recalled, it had not been easy to explain to him the first time around, when he
had awakened in sickbay, after the Car-Vu incident. It also had been difficult
for him to actually accept what he had become, and for a long time, he had held
himself apart from the others, brooding on his condition. He only had started
to come to terms with it quite recently.
Going through it again
would probably be worse this time around, as he didn’t even have any
recollection of who he really was to begin with, and no idea what the
Mysterons were capable of. Considering all this, it seemed a better idea not to
reveal everything to him. That might be too much for him to handle.
In any case, Rhapsody
also considered that it might not be that necessary to tell him everything at
this point, and to give him unwarranted cause for concern; as she said, he
would probably regain his memory soon enough, and would remember it all,
anyway.
At least, she fervently
hoped so. Because at the moment, she was unable to explain exactly why he
couldn’t remember anything to begin with. This was a little worrying.
She smiled lightly at
him, again apologetic. “Sorry, I can’t say exactly how they did it,” she
answered, grateful that it was partly true, as nobody knew what exactly the
Mysteronisation process was, and how it worked. “Maybe it was genetic
engineering, after all?”
“Performed by aliens?”
he said. “That sounds suspiciously like one of those unbelievable accounts of
alien abductions that sometimes pop on the news…” He stopped to think it over, and noticed the
way Rhapsody was looking at him. “Now where did that come from? How can
I remember hearing about those stories, when I can barely remember who I am?”
“Some stuff may be so
beyond belief that they would stick in your mind, I suppose,” Rhapsody
reflected. “Or maybe – it’s simply too close to your own experience for
comfort? That would have marked you.”
He shook his head,
mystified. “Failing a better explanation, I will buy that… There are probably
things more difficult to believe than that… Although I can’t think of any at
the moment.”
“I can think of one,” Rhapsody
said with an amused smile, as she rolled her eyes at him. “For example, I find
it very hard to believe that you seriously told the sheriff your name was
‘O’Hara’.”
She chuckled at the
thought, and her colleague looked at her quizzically. She suddenly realised he
had no idea why this seemed so funny to her. Her attempt to ease the tension
for a minute or two had fallen short.
“It suddenly came to my
mind in a flash,” he defended himself. “The sheriff was interrogating me,
trying to find out who I was. It popped up – and I naturally assumed it was my name.
Since the name ‘Scarlet’ was on those tags…”
“Well, it isn’t your name,” Rhapsody said, her
smile broadening, if only a little.
“So I know now, but what
is it about that name that’s so funny? I
know the sheriff also gave me an odd look.”
“Geez, I wonder
why.” Rhapsody rolled her eyes again.
“I’m guessing you don’t remember ‘Gone with the Wind’. It’s a very popular
American novel… and an even more popular film. Everybody knows its main
character, Scarlett O’Hara. It’s like saying you were…” She searched for a name at random, “…
Napoleon Bonaparte.”
Scarlet frowned. “Who?”
Rhapsody groaned. “Well,
if you, the historian, don’t remember that one, we’re certainly in trouble. The
point it, nobody would have believed it to be your name. Especially considering it’s a woman.”
“Napoleon was a woman?”
Rhapsody looked at him a
little anxiously. “Scarlett O’Hara was a woman,” she specified. She
noticed his amused smile. “You are
pulling my leg now.”
“Hey, I might not
remember who Napoleon is, but I certainly know that it’s a man’s name,” he
said. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist… You say
I’m an historian?”
“You have a degree in
History. And you’re an expert in military history, specifically.”
“I do wish I could remember
all this. How long do you reckon it
would take for me to regain my memory? You seemed so sure earlier that it would
come back soon.”
She shrugged slightly.
“It’s just a guess, and I hope I’m not wrong. You see, you usually heal
very fast, Captain. I can’t explain why this amnesia of yours isn’t already
taken care of. What is happening to you right now is… well, it’s not normal.”
“You mean, not normal for
me.” Scarlet gave it some more thought. “Have I experienced amnesia
before?”
That was a tricky
question, Rhapsody thought. After all, he didn’t remember the six hours he had
been under Mysteron control. And it was likely he would never remember them.
“To my knowledge – not since you were freed from the Mysterons,” she answered,
going around the question.
Scarlet nodded. “So we
just have to wait and see when this particular problem will clear itself. Hoping that it will.”
“You do seem to continue to heal quickly, if I
can judge by what you told me,” Rhapsody observed, in an attempt to reassure
him.
“Do you think it could
be the bullet the deputy sheriff said I have in my head that might be causing
this?”
Rhapsody gave it some
thought. Scarlet had told her of the projectile in his head; she found this
curious.
“I don’t know. I don’t even think the bullet should
still be there, to begin with. I think
it should be gone.”
“How?” Scarlet
inquired with curiosity. “I mean… if nobody extracts it – how can it go away by
itself? Would my body expel it somehow –
like, will I spit it out…? Or does my body – I don’t know – absorb it, or
dissolve it – or something?”
Rhapsody hesitated. She looked helplessly at Scarlet. Somehow the
image his words conjured in her mind – him spitting out a bullet he might have
caught during a mission – was something of a funny vision. But at the same
time, she didn’t feel like laughing at all.
“Quite frankly, Captain…
I don’t know. I mean, I really don’t know how retrometabolism works. I’m
sorry to say I wasn’t curious enough to ask the question.”
He squeezed her hands,
looking down again, and asked, a little sheepishly: “From what you told me, I
gathered that… there isn’t anybody else like me, then?”
She frowned. “You mean… retrometabolic?”
“Yeah, that word, if
that’s what you call my healing powers.”
“Yes – it’s referred to
as ‘retrometabolism’. As the Mysterons put it themselves: it’s ‘the power to reverse matter’.”
“Whatever that means
exactly.”
“Your guess is as good
as mine.” Rhapsody shook her head. “No. I – we don’t know of anyone else
but you having that power. As far as we know, you are the only human
being who possesses it. Aside from you…”
She stopped and hesitated again, and Scarlet looked at her closely, noting that
she didn’t seem willing to continue.
“What?” he inquired
insistently. “Aside from me… what?”
“I was thinking of
Mysteron agents,” she said, again apologetic.
“We know that they can be like you, but we haven’t seen many
cases, since the War of Nerves began. We
don’t even know if Captain Black himself has that power.”
“Captain Black?” he
repeated.
She shivered. “The
commander of the mission to Mars, which caused the mess we’re in. He’s the man
who’s responsible for it all: the War of Nerves with the Mysterons.”
“The name suggests he
was part of Spectrum,” Scarlet noted.
“Am I right?”
“Yes – yes, he was. But it’s another long, complicated story.
Suffice it to say – he’s now totally under Mysteron control. He’s their prime
agent, the most dangerous and wanted man in the world.” Rhapsody shook her
head. “In your present condition, it wouldn’t be very good if you were to meet
him. Fortunately, at the moment, nothing indicates that he’s involved in this
current Mysteron threat.”
“Only this… Montgomery,
and his men, right?”
“Yes… and they’re apparently after you.”
“What do they want with
me?” Scarlet asked. “Do they want to
kill me? If they wait long enough, maybe
Jasper’s gang will do the job for them.
They nearly did already.”
“A simple hanging
wouldn’t have been enough to kill you.”
“Yeah, well – I sure
wish I could be as sure of that myself…”
“It’s not only to kill
you that Montgomery and his men want. They’re after something else. If they had
it already, they wouldn’t bother to go after you, and would already be away.
From what we know of Mysteron agents, their mission always comes first. As it
is, they believe you have what they want, so getting rid of you would be a
welcome extra.”
“And what they want is
the microchip you told me about – for which we were sent here?”
Rhapsody acquiesced:
“Those two guys who almost caught me earlier? They said they would use me as a
bargaining chip to get it from you.”
“But I don’t have
it!” Scarlet protested. “I don’t remember even finding it in the
first place!”
“If they think you have
it, then you must have found it.”
“How can you be so
sure?”
Rhapsody hesitated. “I’m
not. The last I knew of you before we lost contact was that you were still
looking for it. I left to try and make
contact with base at that point. But you
were on the ground then, and when I returned, you were back in the chopper,
with all the others. So I must deduce
that you’d probably found the microchip by then.”
“You like to play
detective, don’t you?”
Rhapsody offered him a
gracious smile. “I told you I was one, remember?”
“Well, let’s suppose I
found it then. I certainly don’t have it now. I could very well have
lost it when I took that plunge from the helicopter. When I woke up at Joe’s
place, I had nothing on… I found what I thought were probably my clothes in a
basket. They were camouflage clothing…”
“Your Spectrum-issue
camo uniform,” Rhapsody confirmed.
“Right. Well, it was in
tatters and only good to be thrown away. Except for the boots…” He pointed to
one of his feet. “These same boots, that I’m currently wearing. There was
nothing else on me, except for these dog tags I told you about and – ” He
stopped in mid-sentence, as something suddenly came to his mind.
Noticing his expression,
Rhapsody frowned. “What?” she asked, hopefully. “You remember something?”
“The box,” he answered
almost absently. He stroked his brow, thoughtfully. “I remember – there was a
small box, in one of the uniform’s pockets… Quite like a jewel box, except it
was metallic. I thought it contained a ring, or something similar…” He shook his head. “I don’t know what it was
exactly; it looked like some kind of tiny electronic device… Smaller than the
tip of my little finger.” He glanced at her hands. “Smaller than the tip of your
little finger.”
Rhapsody straightened
up. “That must be it,” she said
excitedly. “The microchip.”
“That’s possible…”
Scarlet said, thinking about it.
“When was the last time
you saw it?”
Scarlet hesitated to
answer, then reddened slightly. “I – erm – I didn’t think it was that
important. I threw it back into the
basket, with what was left of the uniform.”
“You didn’t!” Rhapsody
exclaimed.
“That was minutes before
I saw Jasper and his gang kill Joe… They
were outside the cabin, and I saw the whole thing through the window. I rushed
out… and then the sheriff arrived, and …” Scarlet shrugged. “… Well, you know
the rest.” He offered a bashful smile. “Seriously, if I had known it was that
important – ”
“It must still be
there,” Rhapsody reflected. “At
Joe’s…”
“Probably, yes. At the bottom of that basket.”
Rhapsody’s features
became hard. “We must go and retrieve it.”
Scarlet stared at her
incredulously. “You’re not serious?”
“I am. Captain, our
original mission was to find this thing. According to what Colonel White told
us when we left, this microchip is of vital importance… Well, it would be, if it was found intact.”
“Considering the time
you told me it’s been in this swamp, don’t you think it might not be intact
anymore?”
“That was always a
possibility, even before we were assigned this mission, but now that we know it
still exists – do you want to assume it’s not?”
Rhapsody grunted. “I don’t know
what it contains, but since it looks like the Mysterons are after it, then you
can be sure it only can be dangerous data. We must get it back before Montgomery
and the others. We have an advantage
over them, too. We know where to look
for it.”
“Do we really?” Scarlet
asked gloomily. “Even if we know where the microchip is, it would seem to me
that we have a similar kind of problem to Montgomery: we don’t know where in
this swamp Joe’s cabin might be.”
Rhapsody smiled. “That’s
where you’re wrong…”
Her hand went into the
pocket of her trouser and she took the map she had previously put there. She
extracted it from its plastic pouch and unfolded it to put it down onto the
vacant seat between the two of them. Scarlet
looked down at it, and Rhapsody pointed to each of the areas marked with a red
pen.
“This is Les
Arbrisseaux… Here, this is the spot where I found you, and where we
took the boat… See this X
nearby? It says ‘home’ – so that’s probably where the owner of this boat lives.”
Her finger followed the river on the map. “This is Devil’s Bridge… We passed underneath earlier, while you were
still unconscious. At the moment, we’re approximately here…” She then went
further north on the map, still following the river upstream, and her finger
stopped to tap on another mark. “See what’s written there?”
“Joe’s.” Scarlet shook his head disbelievingly. “This guy has Joe’s cabin marked on his
map. Talk about dumb luck…”
“That’s not that far
from where we conducted our search for the microchip,” Rhapsody continued,
waving her hand over an area a little north of the mark indicating Joe’s
home. “You fell over here, on the other
side of the river. It’s not difficult to
imagine that Joe indeed saw you from where he lived.” Rhapsody examined the map
further, her brow furrowed. “It’s deep into Devil’s Bayou. There’s swamp and
quicksand all over the place… Not to mention dangerous wildlife. I know, I
walked all the way from there to where I found you.” She shivered inwardly, thinking of the way
Williams had died, in the jaws of alligators. She pushed the thought deep into
the back of her mind. “We’re in luck, though… the cabin is on this side of the
river. We just need to leave the boat here, and follow the indications on this
map to get there.”
“Okay… but once we have this microchip, what
do we do? We’re still stuck here. We can’t waltz into Les Arbrisseaux after
what happened to the sheriff.” Scarlet’s hand went to his neck, and he rubbed
it uncomfortably. “I’m liable to get hanged again.”
“We’ll tackle that
problem in due time, Captain.” She hesitated for a moment, realising that she
was suddenly taking all the decisions, without leaving him much choice. She bit her lip. “I’m sorry, I realise that,
technically, you should be calling the shots, you being the superior officer…”
He waved his hand
dismissively. “Hey, that’s okay. I may be amnesiac, but that doesn’t mean I’m a
fool. It’s sensible to think that, in my current condition, I would be quite
unable to make proper decisions regarding what we should do. So it’s better you
take over, actually. I’m just concerned that I might be more of a hindrance
than a help.”
“I don’t think you
would. Amnesiac or not, you’re still
Spectrum’s best field agent.”
“Am I, really?” Scarlet
asked, raising a sceptical brow.
She nodded vigorously.
“Beside, it isn’t as if we have much choice, is it?”
Scarlet shook his head.
“No, you’re right. If you think we should go then...” he smiled lightly, “…
let’s go.”
“Then you don’t think me a
heartless bitch?” she asked, a little coyly.
Scarlet tilted his head,
looking at her with curiosity. “Now why should I think such an ugly thing of
you?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Me,
dragging you in pursuit of this mission – while you barely remember anything
about yourself. I realise this must not seem very charitable of me.”
“I would never think
badly of you.”
“Right. You would say
that. But in your current state, you don’t know me. For all you know, I might
be the enemy, trying to drag you into some kind of a trap.”
Scarlet chuckled. “I
don’t think you would have bothered saving my life earlier, then.”
“That might not really
count, you know…”
“You mean, taking into
account my healing abilities?” She didn’t reply and Scarlet shook his head.
“You still helped me over there, and for that, you have my undying
gratitude.” He smiled. “I said it
before, Rhapsody – Dianne: I trust you.”
“And what if you
shouldn’t trust me?” Rhapsody insisted, looking gravely at him. “After all, I might be a Mysteron
agent. Trust is not something you should give implicitly.”
He considered this,
staring at her calmly. Then he nodded,
slowly. “No,” he said.
“No, what?”
“Look, I still have
difficulty believing it – all of what you told me, and what I can do… However,
I do think I’m still a good judge of character. I’m thinking of what you told
me about Mysteron agents, and how I can ‘feel’ them… which explained why I felt
so sick when I met this Montgomery and his men earlier.” He paused a second.
“You definitely don’t feel the same. So
you can’t be a Mysteron agent.”
“That sixth sense of
yours doesn’t always work, Captain...”
“Paul.”
She looked at him
quizzically. He smiled. “You said my name is Paul. Please – call me Paul, then. Hearing you
calling me ‘Captain’ while I’m in this situation… It just feels weird.”
Her hesitation lasted
only a second. “All right. Paul.”
“And regarding this
‘sixth sense’, as you call it…” He shrugged, his smile broadening. “Well,
perhaps it doesn’t always work well, but I’m sure it’s working fine now. And taking that into consideration, to
me, you feel… right.”
The intense way he was
now looking at her brought red to Rhapsody’s cheeks, and she found the need to
look the other way to escape his eyes. “Let’s see what we can take with us,”
she said by way of changing the subject. “Then we should get going. If we want
to arrive before dark...”
He nodded in silence,
before helping her make a smart selection of the objects they could find in the
boat.
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