Pacific Station Vigilante (Book 2): The Negative Man [Stormfall] (2 page)

Project Jericho 4 –

14 Years Old

“Why did Dr. Cooper leave?  Was it because he didn’t like me?”

I’d just sat down dinner between the two of us, Jericho’s favorite – tacos.  It’d been two weeks since my fellow doctor had rushed out in anger over the development of Jericho.  He called us world destroyers and said that one day this boy would be the bane of civilized people.

Looking over at the lad, I couldn’t disagree more.  “Dr. Cooper didn’t like any of us son.  Don’t take his personality or temperament personal.”  That much was completely true.  “He felt things should be progressing differently, ways I just couldn’t support.”

The boy grabbed one of the soft shells and stuffed it into his mouth.  He mumbled something, but it was barely audible thanks to the amount of taco in his mouth.  Swallowing, “I’m not a failure am I?”

“Jericho, you’re far from a failure.”  Another truth; the boy’s abilities were surpassing anything we could have ever anticipated.  Between being able to supercharge electrons and phase with electricity, Jericho was brilliant.  At fourteen, his learning level put him on pace with some of the interns we had from Providence Institute of Technology.

The new general over the project, General Talon retired last year, General Arden Fisher took a more hands on approach.  Just last week he had Jericho disassemble and then reassemble the lab’s mainframe.  Believe it or not, the speed of our computers actually increased twenty-five percent afterwards.  “General Fisher believes soon you’ll be ready for field work.  You’d be able to leave the facility every so often.”

He finished off another taco.  His abilities called for constant nourishment, that or he was just a regular teenage boy.  “Would you come with me?”

“No, Jericho, I’m a scientist, not a soldier.”  The idea of Fisher allowing me to come on field assignments would be laughable.  “I don’t think they want me hanging around during combat situations.”

His eyes brightened at the word combat.  “You mean I’d be out there fighting?”

“You don’t know a lot about this world, but there’s bad people running around with powers like yours.  It’s getting harder each day to stop them from hurting innocents.”

I don’t know if that made a lot of sense to a booky teenager, but he still seemed excited.  “Dr. Staley, would they let me go see my mom too when we go out?  I haven’t seen her in a few months and I miss her.”

“Let me talk to Fisher, I’ll see what I can do.”  I knew I’d be shot down and unlike Talon, Fisher wanted the boy to have no emotional connections to people.  I guess he probably read Ellison’s notes and agreed with my old colleague.  “She still writes you every week, right?”

He got up from the table and went over to his bookshelf.  He pulled out a hefty stack of letters.  “I get a letter every Monday, right on schedule.”

I gave him an earnest smile.  “Your mother is a very good lady.  I hope you write her ba-”  We were interrupted by the base’s alarm system.  “That’s strange…”

“Dr. Staley, what’s going on?”

My phone buzzed.  The alarm system was tied to all of the facility personnel’s phones.  I gave it a quick glance – the lab was under attack!  Startled, I went back to the scared looking boy.  “Quick, Jericho, we don’t have time for questions.  Follow me and stay quiet!”  I ran over to the bookshelf and revealed a hidden panel.  Pressing the button, the shelf moved, showing us our path to safety.

Project Jericho 5 –

14 Years Old

The hallway we were traveling down was once an underground shipping breezeway, long before the government purchased the facility and turned it into a research lab for powered individuals.  Jericho looked terrified, as to be expected of someone his age.  I, on the other hand, was furious.  My gut told me who was behind this blatant abuse.

We kept going, no matter what awful noises we heard around us.  Gun shots, screams, even people dying, self-preservation was the key.  I wished that I’d be able to save all the innocent lives that were here, but I knew that was a fool’s hope.  Right now, the only person I was in a position to save was the young man who was with me.

“Jericho,” I stopped for a second to appraise the situation.  “Up ahead is the exit to this facility.  Once we make it outside, we need to keep going, okay?  I know you’re tired son, but just leaving isn’t going to keep us safe.”

If he was tired, he was hiding it well from me.  “Dr. Staley, I can fight.”

His abilities were rapidly developing, faster than even General Fisher could believe.  I knew he could fight, but we were outnumbered and it was a losing proposition.  “Use your talents to stay alive, not take life.  Once we can find a safe spot, we’ll talk more about what to do.”

He was reluctant but agreed.  With time running short, we went back on the move.  The noise seemed to be quieting, that is until we reached the exit doors.  The entire place rocked as explosion after explosion began to go off.  Cooper was destroying all the evidence.

I tried to open the doors, but they were jammed.  “C’mon…”  The explosions were getting louder, closer.

Jericho pushed me aside and reached up towards the ceiling.  Sparks flew out of the old light fixtures that hung there and a blast of energy blew the doors off the hinges.  Fresh air rushed into the musty old tunnel and the two of us ran outside as quickly as we could.

We weren’t more than twenty feet away from the exit when the building began to collapse.  Dust and debris went into the air and whoever was unfortunate enough to be stuck inside probably had very little chance of survival.  It sickened me to think how many people just died needless deaths.

Off in the distance was the perimeter fence that enclosed this research station.  “That thing’s electrical, but for some reason I doubt that to be a problem.”

He tried to smile, but the situation didn’t call for happiness.  We ran over there and he was just about to do his thing when voices started yelling.  “Stop there!  The two of you on the ground now!”

Three armed soldiers were running towards us, their automatic rifles ready to fire.  My worst fear had come true.  Jericho, he went from horrified kid to protector in an instant.  Using the electricity from the fence, he didn’t even think twice and directed it towards the oncoming gunmen.  They never knew what hit them as the burst fried them immediately.

There was no time to go over what just happened, that for the first time in his life he had to kill someone.  Instead, I grabbed him and went back towards the fence.  The electricity seemed to no longer be a problem thanks to Jericho’s attack, so I went to work with my knife trying to cut us a hole.  I couldn’t work fast enough.

When I managed to make a gap big enough for us to get through, I pushed the stunned teenager through and followed behind.  We ran off into the national park that was spread out beside the lab and waited.  As night began to lift and dawn approached, only then with daylight to help us navigate did I decide it was safe to leave.

“We’re going to have to lay low for the time being Jericho, but I promise we won’t forget what happened today.”

Gone from his eyes was the childlike innocence, replaced with confusion and even fear.  “I never want to feel this helpless again.”

Project Jericho 6 –

16 Years Old

Pizza was an easy thing to pick up on the way home.  It was quick and Jericho loved it.  He was busy doing his homework when I entered the tiny apartment.  “Food’s here.”

“Did you get us pepperoni, dad?”

I was no longer just Dr. Ellison Staley.  To keep our cover secret from the government, I was Eli Staley and this was my son, Jericho.  Fortunately, no one ever wrote down that the boy picked that name, so it made it easy to keep our cover.  In the two years since the incident, I’d found a job teaching math at the local high school and Jericho had already enrolled in college.  At sixteen, he was halfway through his junior year.

The one thing I haven’t been able to get him to open up about is the night he killed those men chasing us.  I feared that if he never confronted that, he might end up even more damaged than what was to be expected.  I did what I could, but having lost contact with his mother and everything else; it was an uphill battle.

My guilt also lay with the fact he didn’t blame me for anything.  I wanted him to yell at me, tell me I failed him, but he always just said, you protected me.  Why could he not see that I was part of the reason for his life?  I was there just as Cooper and the generals were.  No one forced me to do my job, but in the end, he never blamed me.

“Hey dad, pizza’s getting cold.”

“Oh, thank you.  Sorry, long day at work.”  I don’t know if he ever bought my excuses, but he never pressed me.  “How’s the course load coming this semester?”

He pulled out a book on computer engineering.  “The professors try their best, but it’s not their fault they can’t keep up with me.  I’m basically teaching myself at this point.”

The kid was a technical wiz and a genius to boot.  “Looking to graduate early?”

“Nah, college keeps me entertained.  Besides, I want to make sure we’re safe before I up and leave you.”

That was an inside joke between us.  It was always one of us saying ‘make sure we’re safe before’ and then what we really wanted to do.  I knew though it was only a matter of time before Jericho grew his wings and wanted to explore.  Especially with all the negative press powered people were getting lately on the east coast.  I told him time and time again that things were different out west.

“Do you think we’ll ever not be hunted by those covert guys?  I mean it’s been two years, but I swear I still think I see them from time to time.”

I knew it wasn’t his imagination.  Cooper was still out there and I knew the man.  He wouldn’t stop until he found us and killed Jericho.  “One day we will be.  Just know I’m doing everything I can from the inside to find a way for us to live normal lives again.”

He smiled.  “I’d really like to see my mom one day.  I know it’s stupid and she probably doesn’t remember me –”

“A mother never forgets.”  No child deserves to think their mom forgot them.  “I’m sure she’d be so happy to hear from you.”  What I really meant was I was confident she’d be so happy to know you didn’t die that day.

“Thanks dad.  Well, I’m going to grab one more slice and finish this project.  I have a few ideas in my head on how to power the hydraulics to make this work.”

I had no idea what he was talking about, but that was par for the course.  “If you need anything, just let me know.”

Project Jericho 7 –

18 Years Old

Today was supposed to be a joyous day.  Jericho had just graduated college with a double major in computer science and electrical engineering.  Unfortunately, our identities were finally compromised.  With a gun pointed at my head by a former friend and colleague, I was ready for this to end.  “What are you waiting for, Cooper, pull the damn trigger.”

Cooper seemed to hesitate.  “Not until you tell me everything I need to know about that monster you’ve been raising.  When he comes back, we need to know how to contain him.”

Was he serious?  “That’s never going to happen.”  For emphasis, I spit on his shoes.  “When he gets back, you’ll have to deal with the mess you’ve created.”

Two armed soldiers moved forward.  “If he’s not going to tell us, just kill him.  We don’t want to be here when that thing arrives and is pissed off.”

“That thing has a name, it’s Jericho.”  They talked about him as if he was a disease.  It made me sick to know I lived in such a world.  “Maybe one of you two has the brass balls that Cooper doesn’t seem to possess.”

Cooper hit me in the mouth with the butt of the pistol.  “Ellison, I knew you were a sentimental fool, but this has gone too far.  If you don’t help us, I’ll have your legacy branded as a traitor.”  He seemed to think ruining the name of a dead man was sufficient motivation.

It wasn’t.  “You’ll rot in Hell for what you’ve done, Cooper.  You think what you’ve done is to help this country?  No, the only thing you’ve accomplished is to help incite fear and panic.”  Whether they liked it or not, supers were here to stay.  “You were so blinded by anger and hate that you unknowingly created an enemy out of a friend.”

It hit him I wasn’t about to crack.  He cocked the pistol and pointed it back at my head.  “I’d do anything to protect my country from those abominations.  Yeah, we might’ve opened Pandora’s Box, but we also have to shut it.”  He couldn’t even look at me.  “This is your last chance Ellison.  Don’t make me do this.”

I smiled, knowing my fate was resigned.  “You’re right Cooper, we did open that box.  But if you think you can shut it now, you’re sadly mistaken.”  Closing my eyes, “I don’t regret a single thing I’ve done.  When they write about this in years to come, I’ll be the hero and you’ll be the villain.”

“Goodbye Ellison.”  Those were the last words I heard before the gun went off.  Then silence.

**Jericho**

I picked up our order and headed home.  It was Taco Tuesday and my adopted dad gave me the green light to order as many as I wanted.  Two dozen later, I was nearly there.  As I opened the door to our building, I heard a gunshot.  Panic hit me.  “No, no, no!”

Running as fast as I could, I got to our apartment to see the door was kicked open.  In the middle of the living room, the greatest man I ever knew, Dr. Ellison Staley was dead.  I dropped to my knees and cradled his head, crying.  “Dad, no dad, please don’t be dead!”

There was no denying the fact he was gone.  His lifeless face looked surprisingly at peace.  With blood all over the floor and me, I ran over to the window to see if I could spot his murderer.  Across the street, getting into a black SUV was Dr. Leonard Cooper.  He saw me from my window and smiled.  With a roar, I shattered the glass between us with as much power as I could muster.