The New Haven Incident - Part Fourteen

Mendez watched as the agent examined the toy Hannah had gifted him. To the mercenary’s great surprise, he didn’t cast it aside. Instead, he wrapped both arms around it and pulled it in against his stomach, settling against the wall and closing his eyes. Mendez relaxed, shifting his rifle again so he could move into a more comfortable position.

He glanced over at Hannah and noticed that Lilith was awake, and had been watching the exchange. He watched her body relax as Hannah once again curled up between her aunts. Lilith and Mendez’ eyes met and they shared a soft smile before they resumed their attempts at sleep.

With no more disturbances in the night, Mendez was able to get some sleep before he was woken to take his watch. The silence was eerie, considering the number of people in the space. None of the Cedarwood scientists even so much as snored. The same could not be said of the Sigma teams. Mendez shook his head as he heard Joseph, who was asleep on his side, snoring in soft, short snorts.

Agent Connors had no more nightmares; at least none that led to any outward signs of distress. Hannah’s toy had done its job diligently.

Even still, Sebastian was the first of the survivors to awaken, his blue eyes fluttering open as the deep dark of night gave way to the soft grey of the beginning of a new day. Mendez watched a moment. Deciding that it would be a good idea to get to the agent while he was as well rested as possible, given everything. This was as good a time as any to try and mend the bridge he had previously burnt.

“Hey,” Mendez greeted softly from the door. Sebastian looked up at him from the floor, but did not move. He nodded a greeting. There was none of the viciousness of the day before, so Mendez entered the room. He pressed his back against the wall and slid down to the floor, sitting opposite the agent.

“Sleep well?”

Connors shrugged. “Well enough,” he answered. His eyes, though sparing no warmth, were at least not openly hostile as he regarded the big man in front of him. “You?”

That the agent would ask surprised Mendez. Perhaps there was some hope of getting the man on-side. Not showing his surprise, Mendez shrugged. “As well as you can in full kit, I suppose.”

Though he spoke softly, it still felt obnoxiously loud in the silence of the room. He winced at the din. Still, he persisted.

“New friend?” He nodded at the toy.

Agent Connors smiled. It was sudden and genuine. Mendez was once again struck by the change it created in the younger man.

“Yeah,” Connors said. “Hannah leant him to me last night.” The smile slipped. “You know, I never really had toys growing up. I get it now.”

Mendez raised his eyebrows. “No toys?”

Connors shrugged. “They cost money and we were poor.”

Grunting, Mendez shook his head. Though he was curious, he decided not to dig too deeply in the man’s past. “Good of Hannah to lend him,” he said instead.

“Yeah.” Sebastian turned his attention from the toy in his lap to the slowly lightening sky outside. “She’s a good kid.”

For a while, Mendez elected silence. Ordinarily he hated it. His abuela housed a lot of her extended family under her roof. It was always loud in her house. Silence meant something was wrong. But here, with Sebastian, it was oddly comfortable. After a while, Mendez spoke. “Listen, about yesterday…”

“It’s fine. You weren’t exactly wrong. Junkies are unpredictable.”

Mendez fell into silence again. He followed Sebastian’s lead and watched the sky as sunrise approached. It took him a while to realize that the agent was studying him.

“Still,” he said. “It was tactless. A great failing of mine, actually.”

Agent Connors grunted, then shrugged. “Not a failing, really. It beats running around the bush. There’s no need to try and translate meaning. It’s refreshing, actually.” The wry smile Sebastian wore as he spoke faded. “You don’t have to worry about me,” he said. “I’m good.”

Mendez nodded. “And what about after?”

Sebastian frowned. “After?”

“After this.” Oliver waved his hand vaguely above his head. “When we get out of here.”

Sebastian turned his head. “Then I’ll be gone. And you won’t have to ever think about me again.”

Mendez turned to Sebastian with a frown. The agent once again stared out of the room at the silent city beyond. His features were miserable. The warrant officer’s frown deepened. “Well… where will you go? You lived in the city, right? You got out-of-town friends you can crash?”

Connors shook his head. “The Department will find new accommodations. If I make it out.”

“No friends?”

Again, Sebastian shook his head.

“No girl?”

To this, the agent only scoffed.

“Come on, a handsome guy like you? There must be women lining up around the block.”

“Give me a break,” Sebastian muttered.

“I mean it. Not even an ex?”

Sebastian didn’t answer.

“No,” Mendez said in genuine disbelief. “There is no way you don’t have an ex. Not a chance!”

Shrugging, Sebastian said, “The only women I’ve been with are paid.”

Struck dumb, Mendez’ mouth fell open. There was no way that could be the case. Agent Connors was painfully beautiful, broad shouldered and clearly physically fit. Mendez was secure in himself enough to admit that there wasn’t a woman in his life that wouldn’t go mad at the sight of the man.

“No,” he said at last. “Nu-uh. There is no way that’s true. I don’t believe that for a second.”

Sebastian laughed softly. He offered no answer save a shrug.

“How is that even possible?”

“It’s easier,” Sebastian said.

Mendez scowled at him.

“In my line of work… Just… Making it to old age is not really a thing. I’ve already outlived most of the guys I trained with. When I die, there will be no announcement. No funeral. I’ll just disappear one day. No girl means there will be no one I’ll be abandoning. No one hurt by my sudden and unexplained disappearance. At worst, the girls I pay will wonder why I don’t call anymore. But I’m not their only client, and they’ll find another to fill the schedule.”

“That…” Mendez stopped. “That makes sense, actually.” He shook his head. “What about in high school? You must have been wildly popular.”

“I was too busy taking care of my mom.”

“College?”

“Police academy, actually. And I was studying. I was there on someone else’s dime. I wasn’t going to repay that with goofing off.”

“This just doesn’t compute.”

Sebastian’s smile at Mendez’ genuine confusion brightened his blue eyes.

“What about after? There was no one who caught your eye? Ever?”

The smile vanished, and Mendez immediately regretted the question. “Shit,” he said to himself. Shaking his head, he returned his attention to the window. “Cedarwood.”

Agent Connors nodded. For a moment, he didn’t speak, but something inside of him demanded he put to words what had happened to him. Why now, and why to Mendez, Sebastian didn’t know. He sighed. “She was the receptionist of the precinct where I worked. Pretty. Brown hair. Curls. A dimple when she smiled. Her name was Penny.” Sebastian shook his head. “I didn’t know her. Not really. Just thought she was cute.”

Mendez looked at the ground. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.

“Yeah.”

Reaching up, Mendez removed the necklace he always wore and tossed it over to Sebastian. “Here,” he said as it flew.

Sebastian snatched it out of the air with one hand, the other still clutching Hannah’s toy. He frowned and looked down. On the leather thong, clearly not the original, hung a small silver locket in the shape of a book. Using his thumb, Sebastian unclasped the latch and opened the locket. A young blonde woman smiled up at him from the right side.

“Her name was Jennifer,” Mendez said.

Sebastian glanced up. “Was?”

“Yeah.” Mendez paused. He’d not really spoken of this to anyone except Captain Harding. “She died… was killed, actually, while I was on my third tour. I intended to come home to an engagement. I came back to a gravestone.”

“What happened?”

“Drunk driver.”

It was Sebastian’s turn to stare melancholically at his feet. “I’m sorry.”

Mendez nodded. “Never mind. I’m actually really lucky.”

The utter confusion on Sebastian’s face when Mendez glanced over made the warrant officer smile. “We were high school sweethearts. I had a number of really good years with her. Some people never get that. Some people never even meet their soulmates. I did. And it was amazing while I had her. Even if I knew that I’d lose her the way I did, when I did, I’d do it all over again. I wouldn’t trade my years with her for anything.”

As if guided by a divine conductor, the sun breached the horizon and golden light poured down the empty streets. In the silence of dawn, isolated from the rest of the group, the two men found a comfortable equanimity.

For a moment, Sebastian said nothing. He stared down at the blonde in the locket. The young woman was truly beautiful, her smile bright and her eyes kind. “She was lucky to have you too, I think,” he said at length. He closed the locket and handed it back over to Mendez, leaning over awkwardly rather than throwing it.

Mendez also leant in, taking the necklace and putting it back around his neck. He offered Sebastian a smile and then, together, they turned to watch the colours change as a new day in hell dawned.

Previous Part                                                                                                                                                                          Next Part