Taking a deep breath I leveled the gun at the back of his head. This was it. Once I crossed this line there would be no going back. My conscience tried to nudge me once more, telling me this was wrong. Why now? The man was a dead man, I was just cleaning up the mess that my new boss had stirred up. I attempted to ignore that little voice I braced myself for the gun’s kickback. When I was as ready as I was ever going to be, I silently took one more breath and evenly squeezed the trigger.
If the muffled click bang that billowed out of the gun was what it was supposed to sound like when suppressed, then I was happy that I had remembered to add the suppressor to my mental image. But unfortunately, that was all I was able to be happy about; the bullet that had been speeding its way to Alexis' skull came within three feet of its target and stopped in midair, like a fly caught in a spider’s web. Confused, I repositioned my sights and pulled the trigger again. Or rather, I tried to, but I quickly found that I was unable to move any part of my body, not even squeeze the trigger. Panic lanced down my spine as I tried to force my body into action. When I was unable to follow my mind’s directions my fear soared to new heights.
What is going on? I forced my eyes to look down the barrel’s sight and I saw Alexis turn around and look straight at the hole in his wall. Even though I couldn’t see his mouth I could tell by his eyes that a small but wan smile was spreading across his lips. Remembering the face from the picture I was unable to reconcile that face with the half face before me. Instead of a joyous man all I could see was an executioner. Casually the well-built man stood up, walked towards the suspended bullet, and plucked it right out of the air before examining it. From here I could tell that the front of it had crumpled as if it slammed into something solid. But the path had been through empty air, there was nothing for it to slam into. What have I gotten myself into?
Alexis dropped the bullet to the ground and turned his attention to the hole that I had made. He was too far away to do anything more than look at it, but he closed the distance easily enough. I wasn’t able to see more than his finger trace the edge of his side of the hole. What is he doing? Is he appraising my work?
But before I could really wonder anymore, he quickly removed his finger. Then, the room went dark and I realized he was just like me. He had sealed his side of the hole. Naturally, my glasses that would have allowed me to see quite comfortably were resting away from my eyes. So I was forced to stand there in the darkness and wait for my new executioner to fetch his axe.
Chapter 18
As I was forced to stand there in the dark hallway all I could do was think about the fact that I had just tried to assassinate someone who was just like me. Swallowing the baseball sized lump in my throat I cursed my luck, especially when he opened the door letting light pour into the hallway. With his face cast all in shadow, I couldn’t help but think that, rather than a man, he was an avenging angel looming over me. The illusion was thankfully shattered when the light suddenly filled hallway, presumably with a simple flip of a switch.
When he eventually leveled his gaze upon me he seemed to be measuring me, like a pig at market. The air of indifference that was radiating off of him was unnerving. After a subjective eternity of study the man leaned against the doorframe and, shaking his head, spoke in an emotionless voice. “Well I will admit that you do have a fair amount of skill." Pausing to take a deep breath he crossed his arms in front of his chest as he went on. "But unfortunately for you, you weren’t as equally blessed with intelligence.”
With a disgusted sigh he stalked over, never taking his eyes away from me as if I would finish the attempt if given the opportunity. I tried to reply but my mouth was as still as the rest of my body. So I stood there and waited for this man to pass judgment on me. As I tried to stare at the man’s neck I couldn’t suppress the feeling that this was going to end very badly for me. Strangely, I found myself thinking about how rare my particular talent was “supposed” to be. Before attending Dempsey's tournament I had never met anyone else with my abilities and yet within the last twenty-four hours I had discovered two. Dempsey’s woman and this man were just like me.
Despite the serious nature of my predicament, a part of me couldn’t help but examine the technical side of the situation. How did he manage to stop the bullet, and how did he manage to so completely immobilize me? After all, he had been in a different room with no line of sight to me, and from what I knew about our gifts that was quite impossible, or it should have been.
Looming over me he spoke softly, “What am I going to do with you?” Alexis idly started scratching the bottom of his chin with his right hand. And he kept on scratching as he stood there silently, pondering his own question. He was obviously aware of just how useful silence can be in inducing terror. All I could do was wait for him to come to a decision. Eventually he broke the silence with a whisper, but in the utter silence of the room it may as well have been a scream. “I’m going to remove the restraints I’ve placed around your mouth, but no more. And I'm only doing that so you can answer me, do you understand?”
I instantly felt pressure evaporate from my jaw. How had I missed the pressure being applied? What did he do to me? After a few rapid blinks I shifted my eyes up as far as I could and I recognized a growing look of impatience thickening upon Alexis' face. He was waiting for me to answer him, and I was remaining silent, great. I pushed past my shock quickly offered my reply of assent.
With a nod he leaned against the wall, positioning himself in order to place his face on the same level as mine. “As I said, you have talent kid. But you lack understanding to pair with that talent.” A wry laugh escaped his mouth before he shook his head and concluded his thought. “Tonight, you were like a child attempting to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.”