called her partner, Agent Burroughs, on the way to my place, and he agreed to meet us there for some strange reason.
“Why, Agent Sanders, I might think that you don’t entirely trust me,” I said.
She appeared amused. “Just standard procedure, Mr. Bringer.”
I pointed to a convenience store ahead.
“Hey, can you pull in there? I really could use something to drink, and maybe come aspirin.”
“Um, sure,” she said, a peculiar expression adorning her face.
She accompanied me into the store, and the cashier observed us with a strange look on his face. I was sure that it wasn’t every day that he saw a soot-covered man in jogging attire being accompanied by a lady in a business suit.
Before we even made it back to her car, I had downed over half the container of Gatorade and popped two aspirins.
Within minutes, the pounding in my head abated considerably, and I felt renewed energy course through my body. Maria Edwards had been right on the money concerning my body’s need for electrolytes. The brief use of my abilities at my sister’s house had taken quite a toll on me.
Ten minutes later, we arrived at my house across town. For the most part, my body already felt surprisingly rejuvenated.
A plain-looking, black four-door sedan was already parked in my driveway, which must’ve been Agent Burroughs’. However, there remained enough ambient light to discern from the street that my front door appeared to be ajar.
“My front door is open,” I said to Agent Sanders as we exited her car. “I know that I locked it before I left to go jogging earlier this evening.”
Sanders reached to her right hip to place a hand on her automatic pistol. “Stay here,” she ordered as she drew her weapon.
She peered around the corner of my house to the front porch and quickly made her way to my front door.
“FBI. Agent Burroughs, are you in there?” she demanded authoritatively.
As I peered around the brick facade to the front porch, I heard a slight moaning sound.
“Burroughs!” Sanders shouted.
She crouched down next to the prone form of her partner, who was lying on his back in my living room not far from the door. I started in that direction, but spied somebody to the left via my peripheral vision.
I turned to my left just in time to see a tall man with closely-cropped red hair and wearing a black London Fog coat peer from around the far side of my house. His hands flew upward, and I saw a pistol with silencer being aimed directly at me.
“This is Agent Sanders with the FBI. We have an agent down with multiple gunshot wounds at…” Sanders rattled off on her cell phone, oblivious to what was transpiring.
I felt my heart stop as I instinctively raised my right palm up to shield me, for all the good it would do. It sounded like a miniature air gun belched, and my mind felt like it had been struck by two heavy hammers.
As the stranger disappeared around the corner of my house, I focused upon two small copper objects that were suspended in mid-air just beyond my palm.
Bullets!
My eyes widened and the two small objects fell harmlessly to the concrete sidewalk amidst subdued clinking noises.
Agent Sanders launched out onto the front porch with her weapon drawn, staring at me in disbelief. She pivoted in the direction of where my assailant had been standing, and rapidly closed the distance to the corner of the house.
Despite the throbbing pain in my forehead, I rushed forward to follow her.
Sanders had already made her way down the length of the side of my house and was leaping over the top of the low vinyl fence surrounding my back yard by the time that I rounded the corner.
I continued after her at a dead run. Sanders stopped in the middle of my yard, scanning the darkness of the tree line at the back of my property as a multitude of sirens wailed in the distance.
My mind sensed someone among the trees to the right, and I scarcely managed to focus upon a lone dark-clad figure standing there.
“To
“Why, Agent Sanders, I might think that you don’t entirely trust me,” I said.
She appeared amused. “Just standard procedure, Mr. Bringer.”
I pointed to a convenience store ahead.
“Hey, can you pull in there? I really could use something to drink, and maybe come aspirin.”
“Um, sure,” she said, a peculiar expression adorning her face.
She accompanied me into the store, and the cashier observed us with a strange look on his face. I was sure that it wasn’t every day that he saw a soot-covered man in jogging attire being accompanied by a lady in a business suit.
Before we even made it back to her car, I had downed over half the container of Gatorade and popped two aspirins.
Within minutes, the pounding in my head abated considerably, and I felt renewed energy course through my body. Maria Edwards had been right on the money concerning my body’s need for electrolytes. The brief use of my abilities at my sister’s house had taken quite a toll on me.
Ten minutes later, we arrived at my house across town. For the most part, my body already felt surprisingly rejuvenated.
A plain-looking, black four-door sedan was already parked in my driveway, which must’ve been Agent Burroughs’. However, there remained enough ambient light to discern from the street that my front door appeared to be ajar.
“My front door is open,” I said to Agent Sanders as we exited her car. “I know that I locked it before I left to go jogging earlier this evening.”
Sanders reached to her right hip to place a hand on her automatic pistol. “Stay here,” she ordered as she drew her weapon.
She peered around the corner of my house to the front porch and quickly made her way to my front door.
“FBI. Agent Burroughs, are you in there?” she demanded authoritatively.
As I peered around the brick facade to the front porch, I heard a slight moaning sound.
“Burroughs!” Sanders shouted.
She crouched down next to the prone form of her partner, who was lying on his back in my living room not far from the door. I started in that direction, but spied somebody to the left via my peripheral vision.
I turned to my left just in time to see a tall man with closely-cropped red hair and wearing a black London Fog coat peer from around the far side of my house. His hands flew upward, and I saw a pistol with silencer being aimed directly at me.
“This is Agent Sanders with the FBI. We have an agent down with multiple gunshot wounds at…” Sanders rattled off on her cell phone, oblivious to what was transpiring.
I felt my heart stop as I instinctively raised my right palm up to shield me, for all the good it would do. It sounded like a miniature air gun belched, and my mind felt like it had been struck by two heavy hammers.
As the stranger disappeared around the corner of my house, I focused upon two small copper objects that were suspended in mid-air just beyond my palm.
Bullets!
My eyes widened and the two small objects fell harmlessly to the concrete sidewalk amidst subdued clinking noises.
Agent Sanders launched out onto the front porch with her weapon drawn, staring at me in disbelief. She pivoted in the direction of where my assailant had been standing, and rapidly closed the distance to the corner of the house.
Despite the throbbing pain in my forehead, I rushed forward to follow her.
Sanders had already made her way down the length of the side of my house and was leaping over the top of the low vinyl fence surrounding my back yard by the time that I rounded the corner.
I continued after her at a dead run. Sanders stopped in the middle of my yard, scanning the darkness of the tree line at the back of my property as a multitude of sirens wailed in the distance.
My mind sensed someone among the trees to the right, and I scarcely managed to focus upon a lone dark-clad figure standing there.
“To
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