The Second Layer

Chapter 20: Garen

Chapter 20: Garen

Garen was about to head out of his house; he had plans for the day and had already gone through his morning routine and grabbed his wallet and keys when he sensed the shadowy aura outside of his front door that meant a freak. There was an instant of fear as he wondered whether Payne or Vanning might have come despite the promised retribution by Harken, but he quickly shook off the worry. Not even Vanning would dare go that far, or so he hoped. Very rarely did freaks ever visit him at his home, but there had to be a perfectly good explanation for why one was there now.

His fears were put to rest when a loud knock sounded at the door. There's no way Vanning or Payne would've knocked. If they'd come to kill him, they would've just broken the door down altogether. With a feeling of relief, he quickly made his way down his staircase and across the entry hall towards the door.

Opening the door, there on his step stood a slim woman, barely more than five feet tall, but pretty in her own way. Brown hair framed an innocent face with blue eyes that did a good job of hiding her true nature. Her appearance was that of someone in their early thirties. His senses told him without doubt that she was a freak, but he didn't recognize her. Which was strange, because he thought he knew all the freaks in the city. "Can I help you?" he finally asked, watching her.

"You're Garen Carnus, right?" the woman queried in a soft voice.

"That's right. And you are?" he queried in return.

"My name is Nora Everson. May I come in?" the woman inquired.

Since any freak intent on getting into his house would get in with or without his permission, he had no reason not to be hospitable. His plans could wait a little. "Please do," he answered, stepping back and to the side to let the woman in before closing the door behind her. "So, why would a freak come all the way to this city just to see me?"

"Word spreads fast. And the word is that you've become the new representative of Angela Harken in this city," Nora told him as she made her way down the hall, glancing through doorways as she went, until she finally stepped through one and into his living room. By the time he made his way in, she'd already seated herself in the most comfortable chair in the room, without even asking him.

Not wanting to rebuke her, he simply made his way over to a couch not far from her and dropped into it. "I am. Why? Did you have a message you wanted passed on?"

"Actually, I come bearing an offer from Hugh Masters," Nora informed him.

Garen felt his eyes widen in surprise. Hugh Manuel Masters, as he was known to humans. But freaks knew him by the true name he'd chosen for himself. Hugh Man Masters. It was both a joke and a statement that a lot of freaks seemed to appreciate. Especially considering the commonly held view of freak superiority over humanity.

Hugh Masters was the leader of the region to the south of Harken's. Usually the regions were clearly defined, but there had been a major issue last year when Masters had launched a sudden assault on Harken's territory. The element of surprise had allowed him to manage to replace the leaders of and solidify control over several cities, gaining Masters about a third of a state, which had amounted to about an eighth of Harken's total region, before Harken had been able to stop him.

Since then things had been extremely tense between Harken and Masters, though Masters had made no moves to further press the advance, and Harken had shown no signs of being willing to go to war to regain the lost territory. Since the True Minds hadn't intervened, the annexed territory now seemed to firmly belong to Masters, which had moved the borders between Harken and Masters's regions far closer to the city where Garen now resided.

"What kind of offer, exactly?" Garen asked. He already had a very good idea of what it would be, but it would be a very bad idea to make assumptions in a situation like this. He needed to hear the words.

"You're going to be making reports to Angela Harken from now on. Mr. Masters simply wishes you to make reports to him as well. Everything that you tell Harken, Mr. Masters wishes to know. Along with all instructions that she gives you, down to the last detail. Everyone she has you talk to, everything she has you tell them. So long as you leave nothing out, Mr. Masters is willing to pay you very well for your service," Nora told him, a smile spreading over her face.

"You're clearly insane, and you want to get me killed," Garen replied flatly. This was precisely the sort of offer he'd figured was going to be made. "If I double-cross Harken to make reports to your boss, and she finds out, I'm a dead man. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I won't even have a chance to plead for mercy, because she'll have me killed outright. And I happen to like being alive, thank you very much."

Nora just ignored him and continued to smile. "How much is Harken paying you?"

"What does that matter?" Garen demanded.

"Because whatever it is, Mr. Masters will quadruple it. Not only that, but in the unlikely event that Harken should somehow find out, all you have to do is flee into Mr. Master's territory. He will offer you complete amnesty. And he will protect you from Harken's wrath. She won't be able to touch you. Not only that, but Mr. Masters would be very appreciative of your past service. And he can be very generous in rewarding those he feels deserving," Nora told him.

"Look, I'm a big fan of money in general. A very big fan. So you can understand just how serious I am when I say that there is no amount of money you could pay me to do something that suicidal. If Harken discovered I betrayed her, I wouldn't be given a chance to run anywhere. I would get hit when I least expected it, and I would be dead before I could even make it out of this city. So your amnesty means nothing," Garen stated firmly.

"I've been authorized to offer you half a million for the first three months alone. And there is a very real possibility that if there were danger, we'd be able to warn you in time for you to get out," Nora replied evenly.

For a second Garen just stared at her. Warn him ahead of time? What was she implying? The only way they'd be able to do that would be... If they already had people highly placed in Harken's organization, to intercept intel like that. Was she just bluffing? Telling him whatever she thought would make him feel secure enough to take the offer? Or could it really be true? Either way, he finally decided, it made no difference. "I'm sorry, but I can't do it."

"Make it a full million for the first three months. All you've got to do is call and make reports, that's it. We'll provide you a phone that can't be traced. So long as you're discreet, no one will ever know. Harken will never find out. You've got nothing to be scared of. And I can guarantee you, she'll never pay you sums like this. Take the money Garen, and put yourself in a very good position for the future," Nora said in an enticing tone.

"I'd be lying if I said that kind of money wasn't tempting. But even if you were offering me a billion, I'd still say no. Even if sticking my neck on the chopping block wasn't an issue, which no matter what you say I still think it is, I have no intention of stabbing Harken in the back that way. She's my employer, I promised her I'd do this job, and money aside, I'm sticking to that," Garen responded.

"That's really too bad," Nora said, before suddenly reaching into her pocket and extracting a card, which she laid on a nearby table. "If you change your mind, call this number. Anytime, day or night. The offer will stay open."

"My mind won't change about this," Garen said as he rose to his feet.

"Well, keep the card, just in case," Nora responded as she stood as well. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Garen."

Garen walked her out and watched her leave. A moment later he was back inside with the cell phone Harken had given him in his hand, listening to it ring. Finally there was the click of a connection and a voice came through. "Garen, something to report already? We checked out the information you gave earlier. A freak was found dead not far from the address you gave us. So already your intel is proving useful," Karen, the aide of Harken's that he'd met, said.

"I need you to get Miss Harken on the phone. Something just happened. This is important enough that I need to report it to her directly," Garen told her.