The Shadow Man

Eight

The paperwork piled up on my desk stares at me like a disapproving mother.
I know I should do it but it's so boring.
It's easier to just sit here and stare at it while I wait for my next opportunity to beat up bad guys.
I open my emails, most of them are blueprints and formats for weapons specifically designed to enhance the abilities of the Shift.
I know we can build them too. With all the left over technology from the G'hunawae and the information left behind by Keepers, he's got a lot of resources and he's dying to use them.
The phone on my desk rings.
I lift it, eager to get out of this room.
"Rone."
Its Larson, and he sounds worried.
"Get down here, quickly."
He says.
I grab my jacket from the rack and run down the stairs.
I enter the satellite room and find everyone standing at their desks, staring at me.
"You need to see this."
Says Larson.
I turn to the giant monitor at the far end of the room.
A shadowy figure takes up the whole screen.
"Zachary Larson. Newfound leader, of the SCO. That's right, I know who you are. And I also know that in your midst is a man I am looking for.
Jackson Rone. Surrender him to me, and I will spare the rest of your men. But any delay, as well as any attempt to interfere with the upcoming events will result in the deaths of all your men.
Deliver him to the coordinates I have sent within 24 hours, or watch your men die."
It sounds like a thousand tortured voices all calling out at once, and it's haunting.
I knew that would come back upon me.
I knew it.
I was stupid to think otherwise.
Everyone looks to me as the room falls silent.
My face is stone cold.
My heartbeats in my chest like a jackhammer as I leave the room.
"Rone I know what your thinking."
Says the voice behind me.
"I have to go, Zack."
I say, leaning against a railing.
"I won't let you."
He replies.
I turn to him.
"You heard him. He's going to kill everyone in that room if I don't go.
The SCO deserves a chance to do some good. I've had mine."
He looks me in the eye.
"So what? You go? Then what? You eat a sandwich with him? Rone he doesn't sound like the jolly green giant. Who knows? Maybe this is the SCO's chance to do some good."
My eyes narrow.
"You know something, don't you?"
I ask.
"About a week ago, the signature that represented the Shift, vanished. And when it reappeared, it was surrounded by nearly 50 others. It killed Cassie. It killed Ayla. It went after the weaker ones first. Whatever that Thing is Rone, it's hunting you. All of you. I don't know what you did but it's not going to stop going after you until it has all of you."
I grab him by the collar, and raise him into the air, slamming him against the wall.
"Who are you to keep that from me?!"
I ask.
He stays silent.
"I knew if I told you, you'd go after him. So I kept it under wraps."
"He could be Dead, Larson!"
I shout.
He lifts a small tablet from his pocket.
"No, he's vary much alive."
I look at the screen.
There he is.
Flickering, but still there.
"I'm going after him."
I say, waking towards the armory.
"I'm going with you."
He calls.
I stop moving.
"I can't let you do that Larson. If you do people are going to die."
"What if I told you I knew of someone who could make a difference?"
He says.
I turn around slowly.
"What do you mean?"
I ask.
He pauses, debating wether he wants to share the information with me or not.

He leads me to the bottom level, where he keeps all of his most dangerous relics.
If I'm not mistaken this is where he keeps Dāku's staff.
"They call him Kal. It means Strong in Finnish. A couple of months ago, a tree was going to fall on a logger. He caught it with his bare hands, he held it up long enough for the man to get clear. Than, he vanished. He's been doing stuff like that, all across the country. Moving around, not staying in one place for too long. I don't know who he is, but he's really good at getting off the grid and leaving no trace of himself."
I turn to him.
"So what? He's a do-gooder?"
I ask.
"He just, does something amazing and leaves? That's it? That's your case?"
I ask.
"No, Rone. We have only a single video of him. And look what we found."
He says, booting up a screen.
He zooms in on a screenshot of a man.
"Look at his wrists."
I look closely.
"Is that what I think it is?"
I ask.
"Nolite symbols, etched into his forearms? Yes. That's not all. Look how thick his sleeves are. I think he's concealing something in them."
He wears a thermal shirt with long sleeves hiding his arms. Nolite symbols glow through the fabric.
"You have my attention."
I say.
He turns to me.
"Lets go get him."
He says.
"For what? Larson, it is interesting, but that doesn't help us at all."
He looks at me and grins.
"You didn't think those weapons were for Donnie did you?"