Shadows ★ CNS Issue#17

Jet, 2018 | Israel | Pre-Awakening

“Kill him? You’re going to kill him?” The girl stared incredulously and the man looked from her to Jet a few times before narrowing his eyes at him.

“How do we know you’re telling the truth,” he demanded.

“Because i can sense him and–” the girl walked toward Jet again “–he’s good.”

“He’s like a damn.. black hole.. just standing there,” the man said, still glaring at Jet, but his face became more confused.

“But like i said, not evil. Not bad. Will you please trust me on these things? Have i ever led you astray before?” The girl never took her eyes off of Jet while she spoke to the man and finally smiled. “I’m Nina. The grumpy and way too serious guy back there is my brother, Alek. He is also… Vemz’s son.” Alek’s facial expression softened and he locked eyes with Jet.

For a split second they stared at each other. Brothers, Jet thought. He looked at Alek’s crystal blue eyes and Nina’s indigo eyes. Nina was looking hopefully at both of them and then Alek walked up to Jet and embraced him then let go and backed away.

“Namaste,” Alek said. “This area is a major hub for human trafficking, especially Vemz’s business. How did you get here?”

“Luck? I was a green beret in the US Army.  Our military is undergoing a major change right now and they currently have a mix of mercs and legit soldiers, but it’s about 90/10.. and the good guys aren’t growing. It’s very difficult to pinpoint who is who.” Jet shook his head and leaned against a wall. “The higher ups wanted to hear nothing of it. I suspect they were in on it. I decided i could thwart any of their plans and i did, but it was.. messy.”

Jet looked around at the injured people. His mind flashed to the child, the bomb strapped to him as he shook, the tears pouring from his desperate, innocent eyes. Jet faintly remembered a.. shield.. wrapping itself around the child’s body between him and the bomb. He remembered the bomb going off and the sniper bullets hitting his body in all the wrong places–not a single one hit a vital organ–as he flew back into the dust. The child lived, so it was worth it, but Jet had no right to be alive. He squeezed his eyes shut and exhaled. Why am i alive, he thought. Then he realized that he hadn’t seen the mercs in the cave. He was relieved that they weren’t here, but also not feeling great about where they might have gotten to. Unless…

“Were there any dead?” Jet asked with a bit of panic in his voice.

“Just.. two,” Nina said, staring at him wide-eyed.

“Which–”

“They’re outside,” Alek said.

Jet attempted to run, grimmaced in pain then hobbled as fast as he could outside. As he shoved through the shabby opening, the sun beat down on him and he winced. Hot. Ugh. He saw a few bodies in a hole in the ground and swallowed. He got as close as he could and then he saw them right on top. The mercs. Good, he thought. He punched one of them and started dry-heaving. Nina and Alek came out of the tent and Nina ran to him.

“How could i have been part of this? Why do i always end up in bad shit? Is it just in my blood?”

“I doubt it,” Alek said sourly. Jet glanced at him.

“I’m sorry, man, that’s not how i meant that” Jet said quietly as Alek’s expression softened.

“It’s ok.. i think it’s something we both worry about, yeah?” Alek reassured him. He gave Jet a short nod then he and Nina helped him back into the tent where he leaned against the nearest table to relieve the pain of walking. When he was ready, they helped him to his cot. At that point, Nina and Jet’s skin touched and she gasped loudly, stumbling away from him.

“Dark,” she said. “So much! You have to.. fix something? And you want to.. help her, heal things, devour darkness. The shining girl! Brighter than the brightest sun–a star–it’s her! So much!” She held her head in her hands and Alek pulled her back.

“What did you do?!”

“He didn’t do anything! I can see him! I told you, he’s not bad. Alek, please calm down.” Nina held her head like she had a migraine then looked up at Jet. Her expression was completely unexpected and they both leaned back in surprise as she beamed at Jet. “You’re the only one that can do this and we are going to help.”

-

Alek and Nina were well equipped and knowledgeable about every human-trafficking operation in the area, and they were practiced in helping people escape. Alek helped Nina herself run away when she was 15 years old to escape her very confusing life of captivity; she never understood why she was so sheltered but as she grew up she started rebelling, as teenagers do, and Vemz started getting violent. He had never struck her, but he struck other things and occasionally she’d see him attack one of his subordinates. It terrified her. What was worse, Vemz began pushing his plan for an arranged marriage harder than ever. When she flatly refused to agree to it and said she would never ever do such a thing, he went berserk. For the first time in her life, she thought he might hurt her. She could not tolerate it any longer.

Alek had been sold at age 4 and worked against Vemz for as long as he could remember, though Vemz was convinced that he was on his side. He learned he had a little sister and watched over her for years before revealing himself. When he told her what Vemz did for a living, she couldn’t believe it. As far as she knew, she was raised by a “single father” who was only strict because he loved her. She never knew this side of him, it was well hidden, and Alek was terrified of her finding out her true fate, or worse, actually ending up living it. Regardless, Nina wanted to get away from being controlled and having her life dictated to her. She pledged herself to combatting everything Vemz did. She and Alek both started moving Vemz’s victims out of his system at this location and Nina’s amazing ability to almost heal the sick and injured so perfectly made her an essential addition to Alek’s plans.

Jet, 2019 | Cairo, Egypt

Alek and Nina put on their best faces for their strategy and Jet was impressed. Alek was going to act like he’d found and recruited Jet and they were forcing Nina, filthy and exhausted, back to Vemz. This was how Jet would infiltrate Vemz’s operation and get close. This was no ordinary trafficking ring, it was one of the biggest. Vemz not only sold people, he owned pleasure islands and catered to some of the richest and most “important” people in the world; celebrities, politicians, even nobility. Jet knew he would have to contact Tess for this. He didn’t know exactly how deep she was into overseas operations but she worked tirelessly trying to find these scumbags. He knew Tess would fluctuate from being pissed off that he and two other young people jumped into this damn near blind and all alone to ecstatic that they infiltrated such a huge operation. His sister’s partner–Prince–was CIA and he could call in favors if need be. Jet knew Prince would do it for him.

The whole situation was nerve-racking and Jet was constantly on edge. He remembered his old gang and some of the things they did and talked about doing as initiation ideas, including his own initiation that left a child he considered family fatherless and her mother nearly dead, and he remembered what he had to do to keep her safe. He had absolutely no regrets, but he was worried that he would be tested here at some point, and that he would give himself away. It didn't matter, though. One night Jet was laying back in bed in one of Vemz’s guest houses on his property when he heard light tapping on his window. He leapt up and stood, back against the wall, right beside it. When he peered through it, he saw Nina. Jesus what is she thinking, he thought. If she was seen she could blow everything! Then he noticed that she was shaking and sobbing.

“What the–” he immediately opened the window. “What happened?! Did someone hurt you?”

“They’re going to sell me, Jet.

READ THE REST HERE!

Song | Livingston, “Shadow”