Subject 15

CHAPTER 24 - Barton Jones

I closed the door to the basement and smiled. I walked casually to my office, my wife stopping me to ask, "And what has the Marine smiling?" I kissed her on her forehead before saying, "My girl is all grown up and has got herself a man." She slapped my chest and said, "Shush, I don't want to think about it," but she smiled. I laughed and said, "You know better than I do that she is not the naïve young girl she once was." With a small chuckle I said, "She's even old enough to have a drink with me."

My wife playfully shoved me, saying, "Barton! Though she is certainly not the little girl I once held, I am not nearly as sure about whether or not her naivety is gone." I nodded my consent and replied, "True, but I think we both trust her to make the right decisions... time will only tell if we placed our trust correctly."

I gave my wife another kiss before dismissing myself, and then walking into my office. I closed the doors, making sure they were locked, and activated my computer's AI, saying, "Alison."

The device started and a hearty voice replied, "Yessir?"

"Call my contact," I said, sitting down in my leather office chair.

"The director, sir?" asked the AI.

"Yeah Alison," I replied as I propped my feet on my desk, reminding myself to clean the paint off of the wall and book. "We got the kid."

"The boy you've been searching for?" questioned the AI quizzically.

I nodded and said, "Call his personal phone. He'll know it's me."

The number dialed, and it soon was picked up by my boss, an old friend and the director of the DNS, Farran Greyson, or Steel as we liked to call him. This guy was a Marine once too, but we were forced to abandon him in the battlefield in Israel. They said it was a war of attrition, and he won. The heli came back and found Greyson with seven bullet wounds, clutching a steel shard – his last remaining weapon.

The call started with Greyson saying, "Jones, you better say something that grabs my attention real fast, or I'm going to drop the call. We have something big going on over here at the DNS."

"Bullshit," I said. "This is a long distance call. You're probably in your big black jet with a girl waiting for you."

There was silence over the line, and I heard a chuckle as Steel said, "Damn you Jones, what do you have to say?" I smiled, and then said, "I found the kid you were looking for. Got a name, location, everything."

I heard a rustling over the line, and I joked, "What, you finally sat up in bed now?" but Greyson only replied, "You're kidding me right?"

I chuckled and said, "Greyson, I was the one who sent the chopper back for your ass – you think I would kid with you?"

"Of course not," snapped Greyson, and I was slightly on edge as he said, "But we just got another call about the boy."

I took my feet off the desk and asked, "By who?" and Farran sighed, a bad sign, and replied, "A dean. Bitching about how they had a monster on their campus." I took a sudden deep breath as a puzzle piece fit together.

"What?" asked the Director. "Come on Barton, spit it out." I sighed, then said, "Today, there was an attempted rape at the school my daughter goes to," and this received a, Damn, by Farran, but I continued saying, "but it was stopped, and I think I just figured out by who."

I heard Greyson grunt, and then he said, "We need to get him out of there now. This is getting too out of hand. We can't have the public viewing his true potential just yet... gather your squad together."

I stayed silent, and so did my boss, but Greyson eventually growled and asked, "What do you want to say Jones? I can feel your smug smile across the line." My smile grew larger and I said, "I have a better plan."

"Hell no," said Greyson, "I'm the director, not you."

"True," I replied, "But you would be dead if it wasn't for me."

He grumbled and said, "I woulda thought of something..."

"You had seven bullet wounds, one of them through a lung of yours... Sure you would've."

Greyson grumbled another curse at me, and replied, "What's you're great idea?"

My smile disappeared, and I replied, "Call up the girl."

"Hell no," replied Greyson instantly, "Hell no! She can't be trusted!"

I said, "I'm not done, hear me out," and he fell silent. I continued, "Look, I've seen him in action, and it was beyond my expectations."

"To be expected," grumbled Greyson.

"And I still have the feeling that he'll continue to grow if we let him be, at least for now. If we take him and wipe him, all of that hard work will be lost, and there's no regaining what he's learned unless you stick him back in the wilderness for another three years."

Greyson growled, but I finished, "Plus, it'll seem really suspicious just sending a squad out, and we know that the other Fractals are watching us after the Fracture, after Israel fell under our watch... so, if the two blend in, if she makes them disappear, the Fractals won't pay us any mind, and we'll never be traced to them if they get into trouble, and neither will anyone else.... She needs to be the one to bring him back in."

"That's a pretty big if, Barton... Is there anything else?" asked Greyson, hearing my hidden intentions behind my voice. I took a deep breath and said, "And... my daughter might be... interested in him..."

"What the hell JONES?!" roared the director of the DNS, "You're own daughter is with him?! No, it couldn't be some random bitch, it had to be you're daughter! Barton, you know what's at stake here! You know that if we fail, we–"

"I know!" I shouted back, slamming my hand on the desk, "But it's not like I had control over this, and..."

Greyson, disgusted, grumbled, "Don't say you approve of this!"

I shook my head, rubbing my temples and I said into my monitor, "Look Greyson, it'll look suspicious all around, and my daughter will know that I had something to do with it if we send in a squad... She'll never forgive me, and she's the world to me, you know that Greyson! Don't make me lose her again after all the fighting it took to get her..."

There was silence on the line, then a deep sigh, and Greyson said, "Alright Jones... alright.... But you owe me, big... real fucking big."

I nodded to no one, replying, "Yes sir."

Another sigh, and Greyson said, "What was the boy's name again, and where is he?"

I grunted, and I said, "His name is Seth."

"What the hell? He still uses that name?" asked the boss. I confirmed the question, and Greyson grumbled, "The one name we don't even think about double checking is the name we gave him.... Unbelievable... 'Oh yes, it's the best team we've got, hand picked by the Chancellor – they'll catch your man...' I don't even want to know what one of their bad teams looks like...."

I sighed with a smirk before continuing, "And.... he is currently in my basement with my daughter."

I heard a grunt of disbelief, then Greyson said, "To hell with it, I don't even care anymore. Keep an eye on him Jones. You know how important he is. I'm going back to bed."

I smiled, and said, "Have fun, Farran," and then the calldropped with another curse from Greyson. I sighed and fell back into my chairbefore saying to my AI, "Well... that went well."