Zeitgeist showed no surprise. “Hmph. ‘Ragdin.’ I should have realized sooner.”
“It took me a year to disappear, reinvent myself, and slowly work my way into your secret empire. I climbed up higher and higher until I found someone important. Like you.”
“Let me be the first to congratulate you,” muttered Zeitgeist. His hand tightened around the trigger of the hidden gun built onto the underbelly of his desk. He pushed the trigger but nothing happened. Zeitgeist’s face was flushed with anger.
“Yes, I emptied it,” said Daring. “I’d be a fool if I didn’t check out your office before confronting you. Without you knowing, of course.”
“Of course,” said Zeitgeist. “You know, we could use a brilliant man, like yourself.”
“Save the sales pitch,” warned Darning. “I’m here to bring your Cabal down. Too many good men have been lost because of your thirst of knowledge.”
“I had to try,” said Zeitgeist. He started to shrug, but his large hands grasped the edge of the desk. He overturned the desk, sending everything falling onto Daring. Daring picked up a lamp and threw it at Zeitgeist’s leg, causing the villain to fall.
Daring jumped at him, but Zeitgeist rolled away, and Daring slammed into the ground. Resilient, Daring got up, barely dodging a punch from Zeitgeist. Daring grabbed Zeitgeist’s arm and sent flying into the bookcase, thanks to a judo toss. Daring managed to get another blow in just as Zeitgeist kicked him in the stomach. Zeitgeist made his way towards the back bookcases, but Daring was far from finished. He launched himself at his opponent. This time, he was successful in sending the two of them over the couch and onto the floor.
Daring grabbed at Zeitgeist, hoping to prevent the villain from leaving, but Zeitgeist brushed him off with relative ease. Zeitgeist picked up a small coffee table and succeed in a glancing blow that sent Daring back to the floor. He brought the table down onto Daring’s head, splitting the table into two.
Zeitgeist frowned. “I was rather fond of that,” he muttered. He walked over to a particular bookcase and removed an ordinary-looking book. The bookcase disappeared into the wall, revealing a small room: an armory with various weapons displayed in glass cases.
Zeitgeist started to fill a backpack, while Daring dragged himself back to consciousness. He shook his throbbing head and slowly got back to his feet. Peering into the secret room, Daring watched as Zeitgeist fill the small backpack. With his back to Daring, Zeitgeist did not know that his nemesis had regained consciousness so soon. Daring quietly started to circle around Zeitgeist, keeping a row of display cases between him and Zeitgeist.
Unfortunately, Daring felt dizzy for a moment and bumped into one of the cases. Zeitgeist immediately turned around, an assault rifle in hand and opened fire. Daring dropped to the floor as glass showered down on top of him. Bullets ate up the wall behind him. Zeitgeist grabbed the backpack and started to run towards a door at the end of the room.
Daring reached up in the torn up case and pulled out the first thing his hand could find. He ran parallel to Zeitgeist, opening fire with the semi-automatic pistol he had taken. Zeitgeist took cover behind one of the columns running through the middle of the room. Daring ducked behind more display cases just as Zeitgeist unleashed another round of fire. Daring returned fire, hoping to wound the villain, but Zeitgeist had no limitations in that regard.
Zeitgeist pinned Daring down with his heavier firepower as he made his way to the door. His gun clicked empty just as the door opened. Zeitgeist slid through the threshold as Daring took aim. His gun jammed just as the door started to close. Tossing it away, Daring pushed the button next to the door, listening to motors operating the elevator. After a moment, the elevator returned, and Daring descended into darkness.
The elevator door opened into a maze of dimly lit corridors. Daring looked both ways and had no clue which way to go. He closed his eyes and listened. He could faintly hear footsteps, and Daring started to follow the sounds. It was an arduous journey following what he hoped was Zeitgeist. It was twenty minutes later that he ran into a wall literally.
His spirit was not dashed however, as he started to examine the wall in front of him. It was not long before the wall yielded its secrets to Daring. The wall opened, and Daring was surprised to find himself in the local spaceport. The crowds of people and creatures, racing to and from their flights, did not notice Daring appearing as if out of nowhere.
Zeitgeist smiled to himself. There was no logical reason that Daring could find him in these crowds. Especially since Zeitgeist had turned his jacket inside out and put on a convincing wig and facial hair. He strode up to the counter and introduced himself to the robot attendant.
Showing one of his fake ids, he said, “Please have my private shuttle ready. I’m in a hurry, please.” The robot scanned the id and processed his request. Paperwork printed out of a slot in its chest. Zeitgeist signed the appropriate areas and was escorted down to the tarmac. Zeitgeist’s eyes searched the crowds around him as the spaceport cart drove him to his destination. There was no sign of Daring. Perhaps he lost his pursuer in the crowd. Nevertheless, Zeitgeist did not let down his guard. Even when he climbed up the stairs to the waiting shuttlecraft.
It was only when he walked into the cabin of the shuttle did his blood turn cold. There waiting for him was Rick Daring.
“Sit down,” commanded Daring, waving his gun towards a nearby seat. Zeitgeist reluctantly obeyed. “Pretty disappointing, huh? I bet you thought you lost me, huh?”
“I know I did,” replied Zeitgeist.
“Perhaps you did, but I stopped a moment and thought things through. No one with your vanity is going to sit in coach. Not when you most likely own your own shuttle. It didn’t take long for port authorities to help me narrow the field, and here I am.”
Zeitgeist glanced over to the door leading to the cockpit. “Don’t worry,” continued Daring. “We have two of security’s brightest pilots flying us home. It looks to be a smooth flight.” It was not long after that the shuttle lifted off the ground.
As they made their way up through the atmosphere, Zeitgeist made a small request. “There is a bottle of Dom Perignon 2098 in my personal refrigerator. I’ve kept it for special occasions. If I’m going to prison, I might as well drink it.”
It seemed like an ordinary request, and there was a bottle matching the description in the fridge. Daring pulled it out and put it on the table next to Zeitgeist.
“Enjoy,” said Daring.
“You don’t want some?”
“I don’t drink.”
“A pity,” said Zeitgeist as his hands clasped the bottle’s neck. He swung the bottle like a bat and smashed it against the table. Gas erupted from the fake bottle. Daring was immediately overtaken by the gas. Zeitgeist covered his nose and mouth while he pulled a .22 caliber gun out of a hollow heel. Daring lay on the floor, dazed and disoriented. He heard gunshots and Zeitgeist’s large feet against the floor.
Daring reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a cigarette case, but inside were rows and rows of pills. Plucking a white one, he held it between two fingers and broke it open. He felt a rush of pure oxygen enter his nose, and the effects of the gas were temporarily eliminated. He stumbled into the cockpit only to find the pilots dead, and the shuttle was making a steep decline into a mountainous region.
Daring started to pull at the yoke, using all of his flight training he acquired over the years. The shuttle was sluggish in response. The fact that bullet holes littered the controls was not helping Daring’s situation. He managed to level off the shuttle, but it was not going to make it over the incoming mountains.
Daring abandoned the cockpit and found that the emergency rafts, jetpacks, and even the old fashioned parachutes were all riddled with bullets, except for one that Zeitgeist had used to escape. Daring went to the opened starboard door. He fought against the whipping wind and jumped out of the shuttle. He landed ten feet below in a pile of snow. He looked up just as the shuttle crashed into the mountains. It was then that he collapsed, either from the gas or from physical exertion.
Unaware of any of these events, the Brilliant 5 had said their goodbyes to Zoey Walker. Junior walked Zoey to her shuttle.
“You’re sure you won’t reconsider?” he asked.
“Well, if the world’s going to end in 20,000 years, the least I can do is visit my parents more often,” replied Zoey.
“Why are you going back to Earth? They don’t have anything that will get you back to this side of the galaxy.”
“Maybe I don’t want to come back.”
“Can’t you and Sara make up? It’s not good to leave on such bad terms. The two of you are the best of friends. Can getting back at Zeitgeist really be worth more than your friendship with Sara?”
“There’s nothing you can say that will change my mind,” said Zoey.
“Then take this,” said Junior, placing a small device in Zoey’s hand. “Teresa made it so we can communicate over long distances.”
“Even on Earth?”
“Even on Earth.” Zoey gave Junior a small smile and hugged him. “Thanks for everything,” she said as she walked up the ramp. Junior stood and watched as her shuttle took off.
“You should have said something,” he said as Sara walked up behind him.
“It’d only make things between us worse. She just needs to cool off.”
“This happen often?” asked Junior.
“No, but it makes me feel like her mother when she does.”
Just then, there was a hollering that neither had heard before. Old Timer was racing towards them.
“What’s the rush?” asked Junior.
“Daring’s alive! They just found near some wreck! He’s alive!” Old Timer continued to holler.
Sara’s hearts raced as she heard the news. She knew that her old friend was alive, never doubting it, but it was a relief to hear it from Old Timer nonetheless. But her happiness was hampered by Zoey’s departure. She kept thinking if she handled things differently, then maybe…
But that was the past, and she was in the here and now. Zoey was more than capable to be on her own, and Sara would see her again someday. Their friendship was stronger than this. Now was the time of celebration, of rejoicing. There would be time later for contemplation, anticipation, and absolution
Written by J M Emmons. The story and all characters are copyrighted by J M Emmons.
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