A New Partner
The freshly minted Time Agent paced nervously. He was about to meet his partner for the first time, a graduate from Milledgeville. A cold-blooded killer since childhood, the man he was waiting for had been trained as a spy and an assassin. He was a weapon in human form with a mind of his own. Just how was he supposed to relate to this man? How was he supposed to work with him and keep him in line? How do you form a close working relationship with a sociopath?
The anxious man froze as the object of his concern entered the room. On the surface, nothing about him appeared out of the ordinary. But there was something about him that promised violence backed by intelligence. He pasted a grin on his face, a mask that had served him well all of his adult life. "So you must be my new partner. I'm Franklin."
"Franklin? You've got to be kidding me!"
"What's wrong with my name? It was my father's name."
"It doesn't suit you. We'll have to come up with a better one. Let's see, how about Poster Boy?"
"I hate it."
"Poster Boy it is then!"
"And just what am I supposed to call you?"
"Call me John. Don't try to call me by my number. I don't like it, and I get cranky when I don't like something. You don't want to see me when I'm cranky. So, if you read the briefing, you already know my story . What's yours? What made you join up?"
"I grew up in the ass end of nowhere. I wanted out."
"Really? So that's where the Boeshane Peninsula is. Good to know. You would have been what, 13 or 14 when the invasion happened? Who'd you lose?" At his partner's shocked look John added "I do my research. Don't underestimate me. If I were stupid, I'd be dead by now. Now, who did you lose that made you become a Time Agent?"
Franklin was furious, but he was going to have to work with this man and trust him with his life. He might as well tell the man what he wanted to know. After all, he was an expert on childhood trauma. "My father died. My younger brother was taken. His name was Gray. He was just a child. I want to know what happened to him."
"They won't let you change it. You know that, don't you?"
"Yeah, I know. But I have to know what happened to him. It was my fault he got taken. I was supposed to protect him, but I lost him. I let go of his hand while we were running for safety, and when I turned around he was gone. I have to find him, or at least find out what happened to him. I owe him at least that much. Satisfied?" His growing anger was obvious, but John's reaction wasn't what he expected.
John suddenly got very serious, still, and dangerous. "I'll make you a deal. You help me find out how I ended up where I did and who was responsible, and I'll help you find out what happened to your brother and make the people who took him pay. What do you say?"
Franklin was astonished. No one had ever offered him that way before. He held out his hand to John. "I say welcome to the team, partner. Let's make them all pay."
John smiled. "I have a really good feeling about you. We're going to be great together. Watch out Universe, here we come!"
Maybe this partnership wouldn't be all bad. He wouldn't have to hide his darker side from John like he did all the others. He was also beginning to understand what made John the way he was and to appreciate how far he had come. He was starting to really feel for this man. After all, if Gray had managed to survive, what would his experiences have done to him? He had read John's file. It was horrific, and Gray would likely have had to endure even worse.
Gray was so young when he was taken. Did he have the strength to survive what those creatures could put him through? If he did, what kind of man would he become? Would he be some sort of psychotic or sociopath like John and the others from Milledgeville? If Gray survived, could he be saved? John, strangely enough, would be a good judge of that. He was going to be an important ally to have in the years to come. Maybe this would work out after all.