Shattered: Episode 2: The Reluctant Brother

Shattered:
The Reluctant Brother
Part 2
by Toni Walker

They seemed to be at a stalemate. Abraham Moses, the Knights Foundation head honcho, wanted to terminate Phoenix's employment with the KF and he was dead set against it. If he had been a normal agent, he would have escaped with guns a blazing. But Phoenix had respect for life... in spy terms that meant, he wasn't yet old enough to carry a gun.

Even with that said, Phoenix Gray wasn't one to kill unnecessarily. But he was the type of agent who could think on his feet.

"Can't we talk about this?" Phoenix asked as he walked backward while raising his hands in surrender.

He glanced around taking in his options. The fire extinguisher to his left had been recently updated and the glass cover had yet to be installed. That was a happy coincidence.

It took him only a moment to formulate what he was going to do.

Phoenix lunged for the extinguisher. He hit one man over the head with it while spraying white foam in the face of the other.

Abraham Moses sat down calmly behind his desk and called security. He was sure Phoenix would never be able to exit the building.

For the first time in his life, Abraham Moses had been wrong.

Phoenix ran from the room like a man guilty of the crimes he had been accused of. Abraham didn't want to realize what he had feared was true about Phoenix.

Moses's two security guards, the ones Phoenix had dubbed Mean and Ugly, chased after him, but by the time they reached the hallway, the kid had disappeared behind a fog of fire extinguisher dust that lined both wings of the corridor.

Phoenix Gray was indeed a crafty one, Abraham had to admit.

***

"I want you to find that boy! He doesn't know what kind of trouble he'll be in if anyone from the Black Council (BC) finds him first."

The security guards nodded to their employer and set off to search the building. The boy couldn't have gotten far.

***

Phoenix hadn't spent a lot of time in the Knights Foundation building, but if his knowledge of building schematics was up-to-date, he could get to a main air duct and repel down it like riding down the side of a mountain. He and his sister, Scarlett, had learned to mountain climb when they were just children... back when their father Graham Gray actually cared about them and was around to show his affection.

The initial thought of his sister had him fixing a fire hose and using the long length of piping to lend to his escape.

He was out of the building five minutes later, and heading to a location neither Abraham or Mean and Ugly would look for him... right under their noses.

***

"My aunt doesn't work for the Black Council and I don't work for the Black Council," the raven haired beauty told Helms Solomon, Julian Black's new head of security for the BC.

"Octavia may not work for us, but we've had agreements in the past. That's all I'm asking for now."

"You want me to bring you some rookie agent who knows the location of Julian Black's niece? Are we brown-nosing or what?" Nadia Kassoff didn't know how to respond. She had never been selected for such an honor before. Why now, she wondered.

Julian Black appeared over Solomon's shoulder. "Yes," he said. "You will have a distinct advantage over any of my other agents due to your own youth and young Phoenix's attraction to beautiful brunettes."

"Exploiting his weakness, yes?"

"Yes, This will be a two-pronged assault. You appeal to his natural urges and gain his trust and I'll plan for a back up option in case you fail," Solomon said.

Nadia scoffed at his disdain for her talents.

"For your information, the women in my family do not fail. We have all served you well in the past and I do believe my grandmother, the Nightingale is still serving your nefarious purposes."

"You have yet to prove yourself, Nadia. Don't disappoint me." Julian Black exited the room leaving Nadia with Helms Solomon.

The young Russian girl nodded and extended her hand to Helms. "I do believe we have a deal."

"Now, get out there and bring us back what we want."

As Nadia left, Julian reentered the room. He nodded to his new security advisor. "If she fails, kill her."

***

Phoenix ran all the way to the Legacy infirmary without being seen by other LEG or KF agents, and considering he was in mega spy territory, that was an amazing feat.

He wound his way up the duct work of the infirmary until he came out on the floor where Scarlett was being put under observation. The doctors claimed she needed a liver transplant, but he wasn't so sure that was why she was stationed in the security wing.

Scarlett was lying in bed looking as bored as he had ever seen her. She seemed to thrive on unlikely situations, just like he did. Her expression perked up when she saw him crawl out of the duct work near the floor of her room.

"Thank God! I thought you'd never get here." Scarlett sighed. "Did you know, they were talking about operating on me? And hello, not injured any more."

Phoenix laughed at his sister's way with words. "I'm not actually here on a social call. I'm sorta being tailed."

"What did you do? Tick off some head honcho guy?" When Phoenix remained silent, Scarlett blanched. "Tell me you didn't."

"It wasn't my fault. They seem to think I'm personally responsible for Faith Fairchild's disappearance."

"You're kidding?"

"I'm so not kidding."

"Well, then, we have to find her." Scarlett grabbed for her clothes in the dresser next to her bed."

'Oh, no. Like I don't have enough trouble with Faith being gone, now you're going to disappear from here as well? You might as well just lock me up now."

Scarlett smiled. "If you don't take risks, how do you ever get anywhere in this world."

She quickly donned her clothes and grabbed the repelling rope Phoenix had snagged on his way to the infirmary. "Are you coming?" Scarlett asked as she disappeared into the duct work.

Phoenix sighed. "I'm going to pay for this so bad." But he had to admit, in order to find Faith, he would need his sister's expansive intellect. Then he too vanished behind the heating vent.