The Wounded Healer

Chapter 16: Revelations

Evelyn's chest was rising and falling so rapidly it was hurting. Her eyes were wide and her voice was stuck in her throat. She opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water. Her head was spinning. The floor was moving under her.

Jorge the Crank sat calmly at the table, the ghost of a smile on his face, his hands still clasped loosely.

She finally managed to squeak out one word. "How?"

"Sit down Mi Querida and let me explain." He motioned to the chair that lay tipped over.

It took a second for her brain to catch up. Slowly as if in a dream, her body moved, she picked up the chair and slowly sank into it. She sat at the edge, tense but slumped over. She rested her head in her hands, staring at the floor for a moment. She picked her self up and looked back at Jorge.

"Talk."

He nodded. He took his hands off the table and leaned back in his chair.

"Well. I worked for WICKED, clearly. As a burg pilot. I was never told details, just when and where to go. The one night our mission was compromised by a few of the less...crazy cranks. I was shot and left for dead. Janson saw an opertunity. He brought me to you, Mi Querida."

She nodded, following along. So far it seemed likely. She could see Janson using Jorge to test a theory, like he did the other guard she killed. Evelyn frowned, her eyebrows pulled together.

"Your a pilot. What were you doing outside the cockpit?"

"Ahhh. They said you were smart, they weren't wrong." He grinned. But unlike his wild twisted ones, this was a genuine smile that reached his eyes and made them crease.

"I had snuck away, and was on my way back when I was shot."

"Where?"

"I was...on my way to see..a friend."

Evelyn crossed her arms and leaned back, her eyes narrowing.

"I had been trying to get in contact with him for a while. We finally had the opertunity and I was on my way back."

Evelyn raised an eyebrow waiting for him to elaborate. She watched as his eyes danced with an amused mischief while he watched her.

"I was meeting with Vince the leader of the Right Arm, Mi querida."

Evelyn sat up straight. She had heard that name. Where, she couldn't remember. But she had heard that name before. Frowning, Evelyn got up from her chair and started pacing. In her way by the table she snagged the box of crackers. Nibbling the crackers she walked up and down the small room. Jorge's eyes never left her.

She stopped dead in the centre of the room, a cracker half way to her mouth. She spun towards him. Her eyes wide in realization.

"We saw Vince! We saw him! And a few others. They were looking for two groups of kids from WICKED."

Jorge's face remained impassive.

"He said... something about calling Horhay and Bee...that would be you. Wouldn't it?"

Jorge let a small smirk appear on his lips. And he inclined his head at her.

"You always were an intelligent girl."

Evelyn frowned and cocked her head.

"After being shot, I was only ever a sub pilot, did the rest of my days in the observation room."

Evelyn just about dropped the box of crackers. Her head felt dizzy. She staggered back to her chair and sunk down.

"You! You controlled Hephaestus!"