Death Wish (11 page)

Wish 14

“I cannot
believe
I forgot about this paperwork,” I mutter, unlocking the door to my office. It’s late at night, and I’m in the Fairy Godparent Headquarters. The entire building is silent with its lack of people. Harrison laughs, his voice crackling through my necklace.
“It’s alright sweetie, we’ll just see the movie tomorrow. Want to come by after you finish up there?”
“Absolutely,” I reply, turning on my lamp and throwing my keys on my desk before opening the top drawer. Inside is a small stack of papers, their white surfaces waiting for me to write the summary of Robin’s first solo Wish. “I’ll be over in a bit?”
“Sounds good,”
he responds.
“See you then. I love you forever Elly!”
“And I love you for always,” I answer, a smile on my face as he clicks off. It’s been a few days since I found the man suspected of killing the Smith couple, and nothing has happened since. There haven’t been any other unexpected deaths since the Smiths, and no one has been able to find any more leads as to why the two died unexpectedly.
I unbutton my jacket and pull out my chair, ready to sit down and start writing. But, as I’m leaning down, a shadow passes by in the hallway.
That’s odd...
It’s late at night, and I could have
sworn
I was the only person in the building when I walked in. I move out into the hallway, but I don’t see anything unusual. I shrug my shoulders and turn back around, ready to attribute the shadow to a strange trick of the light and sleep deprivation.
But then I remember the admonishments the Godparents received to report any suspicious activity. I hesitate, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. What should I do? Follow the shadow, or stay here and finish my duties? After a few more moments of hesitation, my curiosity and sense of duty finally overpower my desire to finish my work and see Harrison. I sneak down the hallway in the direction I saw the shadow heading.
Since it’s so late, all of the lights in the building are off except for the emergency ones that illuminate the hallway at random intervals. I worry about losing sight of my target when they pass through the shadowy sections, but I see them again soon enough when they pass under the lights. I can’t be positive, but I’m pretty sure the person I’m trailing is a woman. She’s wearing all black
—
a black knit cap on head, a long sleeve shirt, long black pants, and what appear to be black ballet flats. She’s virtually silent as she runs. I have to tread carefully behind her to prevent discovery. I follow her down a long, abandoned hallway. She abruptly turns right. I freeze, hoping she didn’t see me as she turned, but there is no sign of discovery. After a few moments pass I follow her down the low-lit concrete hall. I quickly become confused as I pad silently behind my quarry.
I’ve never been to this area of the building before,
I think to myself.
Why is she going this way?
The mysterious woman turns left into an adjoining hallway, and soon after that takes another left. After a few more minutes of running through the cold, concrete halls she slows her pace, carefully examining the numbers of the row of doors along the wall. I didn’t even
know
the Godparent building was this extensive. Who is she, and what is she up to?
The mystery woman picks the third door on the right and crouches down. I slide back into the shadows so I can continue watching her. I watch her pull a small leather pouch from her pocket, taking out some slender tools. She proceeds to fiddle with the room’s lock. Once she successfully picks it she stands up, turns the handle, and slips inside.
I lean back and slide down to the ground, wondering what on Earth I’m doing following her. I don’t have any weapons or backup, and the building is completely empty except for the two of us. I have a new suspect for the Smith case, and when I report the details of this event tomorrow morning the higher-ups can move forward in the investigation. I sigh and get back up, prepared to head out, when I see the sign hanging above the hallway.
LIFE CHIP RESEARCH WING
Well. That changes things. Someone sneaking around the abandoned Life Chip Research area in the dead of night can’t have good intentions. I could wait until tomorrow to report this, but what if this person is preparing to kill more citizens? Even though I’m alone, she is too. With a new rush of resolve running through my veins, I stand up and run back to my office.
A few minutes later I’m standing outside of the room again, breathing heavily from the run but now armed. My gun with anesthesia bullets I use on assignments is now holstered against my hip. I feel more prepared with some form of protection other than my fists. I draw the gun and slowly move forward, stopping just outside of the room. I press my ear to the door to listen. I hear soft clacking sounds; my quarry is typing on one of the computer’s keyboards. The clacking stops, and a robotic male voice says
Now accessing Life Chip schematic records.
That’s all I need to hear. The Life Chip records are strictly off-limits to everyone except for the Engineers who created them. And since I doubt an Engineer would need to pick the lock of an office they
should
have a key for, it’s obvious that the person who broke in shouldn’t be in there. And I’m now certain that this person is involved with the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
I slowly draw my gun from its holster while moving my other hand to the room’s doorknob. I turn it, but to my dismay I find that the woman re-locked it when she went inside. Knowing that I can’t risk letting her get any more information, I take a deep breath, lean back, and kick down the door.
“Freeze!”
I burst into the room while aiming my gun at the person by the computer. Her back is to me, facing the screen when I enter. She jumps at my entrance and immediately freezes, her hands still hovering over the keyboard.
“Unauthorized access to Life Chip records is strictly forbidden. Raise your hands above your head and turn around,” I order, moving closer in case she tries anything. The woman remains frozen a moment longer, but then her shoulders slump. She sighs.
“Dammit, ‘Liza,” She mutters while she raises her hands. “Why did it have to be you?”
She turns around slowly. The light from the computer catches her green eyes. My stomach drops.
It’s Robin.

*

“Robin?” I’m confused and in shock. Why is she in the lab? “W-what are you doing?”
She smirks, and with her hands still raised leans back against the desk she had been typing at. The light from the dozens of monitors in the room casts her in an eerie blue glow.
“Oh you know, just taking a midnight stroll through the office. Something wrong with that?”
She smirks, lazily crossing one leg in front of the other while she stares at me.
I lower my gun slightly while still keeping my finger on the trigger.
“No, there’s nothing wrong with that,” I reply. “But there is something wrong with stealing classified Life Chip information. And I’m pretty sure
that’s
what you’re really doing.”
“Wow, nothing gets past you, huh?” She’s mocking me now, widening her eyes in an exaggerated display of surprise. “How about we say I got lost, and came in here looking for a map?”
“
Actually
, I was thinking we’ll say
—”
I freeze, my retort cut off as understanding washes over me.
“Oh… Oh no
…
Robin, tell me you aren’t the one who killed the Smiths.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
She still keeps that indifferent smirk plastered on her face. But there is a slight tremor in her upraised hands, and her cheeks flushed in the blue light when I spoke. I narrow my eyes at her, the reality of her betrayal finally setting in.
I stride forward, raising my gun again.
“You can pretend to be innocent later, but right now you’re coming with me.”
Robin spins. In the blink of an eye, her suddenly outstretched leg kicks the gun out of my hands. Shock overrides my senses, and with that moment’s hesitation she ducks past me to run out the door.
“
Damn it
!”
I dive down to grab my gun, and a second later I’m sprinting after her.
Robin runs down the hallway. As I give chase I remember the first time I ran with her when we exercised in the Training Room. At the time, I had thought she was just a natural runner. But now I see that her speed is not a gift, but rather the result of extensive training. She turns left into another hallway, and I can’t help but smirk. The corridor she’s just turned in to cuts off in a dead end.
I turn into the passage in time to see Robin reach the end of it, look around in fear, and whip back to face me with an expression of loathing. She charges forward and pulls back her fist to punch me in the face.
I transfer my gun to one hand and catch her fist with the other, stopping its trajectory a few inches away from my face. I quickly slip the gun back into its holster, draw back my now-empty hand, and sink my fist into her stomach. She lets out a grimaced
oomph
and doubles over.
“Don’t even
try
to tussle with me, Sun,” I snarl, slamming my right knee into her chin. She lets out another pained cry and falls to the ground. I move over, standing with my legs on either side of her collapsed form. I pull out my gun and point it down at her. “You
know
what I’m capable of.”
She coughs. The small spray of blood that accompanies it shows that the impact of my knee did some damage.
“Freaking
bitch
,” she rasps, still curled around her stomach from my earlier hit.
“Yeah, yeah,
I’m
the jerk here.” I click off the safety of my gun, and motion at her with it. “Get up,” I say, stepping back but still keeping the aim on her. “You’ve got some explaining to do on our walk.”
“Our… walk?”
She pushes herself into a sitting position. Hatred is still plastered across her face, but now it’s accompanied by apprehension.
“Yeah, didn’t you hear? When you kill citizens without authorization, you get a special prize: a one-on-one meeting with the Primary!”
I throw her a wide grin of mock-excitement. She spits on the ground, a glob of saliva and blood, and looks at me with pure rage.
A small pang shoots through my chest. I hope that she can’t see the pain I’m feeling underneath my sarcastic demeanor.
“Get up,” I repeat, but this time I bend down and grasp her arm, pulling her to her feet.
I keep my hand firmly gripped on her forearm and turn her around; now she walks in front of me, her enclosed arm twisted behind her and the barrel of my gun pressed into her back.
“You know,” I say, my words echoing down the empty hallway as we walk, “I feel really stupid for not figuring it out sooner. Those poor people died just after you got here. So tell me,
Godmother Sun
, why were you looking up Life Chip schematics? Trying to figure out how to kill more people?”
I jerk her arm up and she winces. The dim lights glint off the metal of my weapon.
Robin doesn’t respond. Instead, she twists around suddenly, and her free fist collides with my shoulder. I let out a pained noise but don’t relinquish my grip on her arm like she was hoping. Instead I holster my gun to free my other hand and deliver a swift punch to her kidney. She cries out and I pull her close, wrapping my free arm around her neck.
“I wouldn’t recommend that,” I whisper, my mouth inches from her ear. “Do you know
how many
Wish assignments I’ve completed that involve apprehending someone? People really have a weird obsession with the whole ‘cops and robbers’ relationship.”
Robin snarls under her breath, but she finally responds to my comments.
“Don’t compare what I’m doing with the sick fantasies of your
clients
,” she spits out, shaking her shoulders in an attempt to free herself. But the way I’m holding her arm behind her only causes her pain, so she stops quickly. “There’s a difference between catering to selfish desires and being a part of what’s
right
.”
“People are
dying
, Robin! How is that right?” I tighten my grip on her arm as I force her to the door.
“How is
murder
right, Miss Fairy Godmother?”
She is still angry, but she isn’t trying to escape me anymore. Her attitude is pissing me off, and my frustration makes me snap at her.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
She lets out a sharp
huff
, infuriated that she has to explain herself.
“I’m
talking
about killing people. I’m talking about the blood of innocent, living humans being shed by people who think that they’re doing them a favor. But it’s sick, and it’s
wrong
. People can’t live forever. We
need
real, natural death in our world again.”
Another pang shoots through my chest, but I keep my expression neutral. I can’t let her know that I’ve been having the same thoughts. Because even if I think our system needs to change, murdering innocent civilians is not the way to go about it.
“Would you rather we return to the time before the unlimited organ supply? Before the Life Chip was even conceived?” I keep my doubts to myself. “It wasn’t just the elderly who died, it was
everyone
. Children contracted horribly painful diseases that couldn’t be cured in time. They died before they could even live. Do you really think you could argue against the system we have now if you were looking into the face of a three-year-old with inoperable cancer? Could you spew your propaganda to their
parents
?”
I let go of her arm and spin her around, pressing the barrel of my gun into her stomach to remind her she can’t run.
“Make no mistake,” I whisper, leaning close so that my eyes are only a few inches from hers. “The world was sick and rotting. What we have now is better than mankind could have ever hoped for.”
Robin’s green, almond-shaped eyes narrow at my words, but then she looks away with a sigh, her face taking on an expression of sadness.
“It’s not better,” she says, her voice small and filled with pain. “We just put a pretty coat of paint onto a hell no one could have imagined.”
I ignore her words and take her arm again, marching her away from the deserted Research Wing of the building and towards the Godparent offices.
“I’m taking you to the Primary, Godmother Sun,” I state, looking away as I try to mask the pain I feel at her betrayal.