Space-Time of Death: an Al Squires of the Protectorate Novel

Ch. 11.2: A Lesser Known 3 R's (Ridicule, Revelation, & Reprimand)

We now skip ahead to the Bullpen back in HQ in the present; as Norah, Rozz, and I have finished explaining to the Chief, the Lt, Col., and Sylvie what happened to Feng and Alice. The rest of the group were there as well, but they stayed behind the three of us; they had already given the rest of the debriefing. Besides, they weren't the ones who dropped the ball, so to speak.

The Chief, Sylvie, and the Lt. Col. reacted to what we told them differently: The Chief stoically stared at us as we told them what happened and continued to do so after that. One of the few advantages of having a porcelain mask for a face. Sylvie just tensed up and bit her lip as she fought to keep it together. She'd have pulled it off too, if it weren't for the look of existential dread in her eyes.

However, it was the Lt. Col.'s reaction that I paid attention to the most. As we told them what happened, the Lt. Col. clenched his jaw tightly around his pipe and started to pace back and forth. He continued to do so after we finished, muttering some things under his. His actions and the way he held his pipe in his mouth made me think of a model train locomotive that someone stuck on solitary bit of railroad track: huffing away, moving back and forth; going nowhere while futilely trying to go anywhere.

FYI, This next part is where the chapter title will make more sense to you, dear Readers.

The Lt. Col. stopped before turning on his heel to face us. "Let me see if I got the gist of what you just said," he said to us, sounding both uncertain and irate. "You confronted Sister Time just before she crossed the field, but before either of you can apprehend her, she tried to retrieve her wristwatch via telekinesis." He paused before looking over to Norah. "Which she wouldn't have done if you kept in your trouser pocket, Agent Navarro, and not holding it up to taunt her with it." Norah looked down at the floor without moving her head, ashamed of her rookie mistake.

"To be fair, sir," she said as she looked back up, trying not to be disrespectful to him, "I wasn't aware of this telekinesis. I was knocked out before I knew she could do that."

"Maybe so," the Lt. Col. said before looking over at me. "But your colleagues, your Training Officer especially, should have warned you about that before the confrontation."

"With all due respect, sir," I pointed out 'respectfully,' "Sister Time had a head start on us. There wasn't time for that."

"And yet," he said dryly, "there was plenty of time to exchange so-called 'witty banter' with the target as soon as you caught up with her. But let's move on. You said that, before she could even use her powers to reclaim her weapon of choice, some shadow swoops down from the roof of the mansion behind you, attacks Sister Time, makes her simultaneously drop the dagger and release Feng, as she falls on the other side of the field, then disappears into the night?"

"It sounds crazy, I admit," I said to him with a shrug. "But it did happen, nonetheless." I paused as a thought came to me. "This is actually the second time that we got some outside help during this mission," I mused. "Or, rather, that I got help. Whether it's the same person who saved me in Studio 54, I'm not sure. But it can't be--"

"Yes, yes," the Lt. Col. said, impatiently cutting me off. "I recall you mentioning it from your last debrief." He exasperatedly exhaled before continuing. "Let's move on to what happened next, shall we? You then said that Sister Time was injured from the assault." He removed the pipe from his mouth. "A nasty scar around here, correct?" he asked as he traced the path of the scar with the pipe.

"That's right," Norah said with a small gulp.

The Lt. Col. went on. "And when she tried to go back through the field after retrieving the fallen dagger, what exactly do you mean when you said, 'she started to flicker?'"