HEROES Rebirth from the Ashes
Chapter ten
Death in a Taxi
***IF YOU ENJOY THE STORY SO FAR – PLEASE WRITE A REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK***
Hiro Nakamura stared at the computer screen, blankly. It was well past two o'clock in the morning. He had hacked into the Government national cell phone database but had come up with nothing. He had slept most of the afternoon away after Peter and the Haitian had left, and when he awoke Angela Petrelli had asked if he could find out where the cell phone had come from. She was over at another table, her head down resting, as she dug through some official looking reports marked "for your eyes only". He had looked up the cell phones serial number, its SIM card number, and mobile number in every national and local database of every carrier he could find. The cell phone was off the grid.
Whoever owned this cell phone had removed all traces of the device from all public and corporate records. Even the government did not have a record of the device or phone number. His head hurt. It had been months since he had worked this hard behind a computer. But it was nice to know his skills were not completely lost. He needed to close his eyes, just for a moment and take a break. His eyes closed slowly as his head leaned forward. Ever so slowly he sunk towards the table top until his forehead came to rest on the keyboard in front of the monitor.
As Hiro's head came to a rest on the keyboard in sleep, Angela Petrelli suddenly sat up at her table with a start. She was tired, she had fallen asleep. It had been a long time since she had pulled an all-nighter. And reviewing the reports from General Ezra, her pentagon contact; about the Carnival massacre and the military base bombing for any clues was pain staking and time consuming. She gathered the papers before her and sorted them in order by page number deciding that it was late; she could review them more in the morning after a few hours of sleep. She slid her purse across the table towards her and slipped the folders back into a side pouch of the bag. The folder hit something at the bottom of the pouch. Reaching in and Angela pulled out the small jar of milky white liquid, containing the last joint of a small finger with white nail polish.
In all the excitement of Peter's return, she had forgotten about it. She was getting too old! 20 years ago she never would have forgotten such a vital clue. Maybe she was getting forgetful in her age? She raised the jar up against the faint light above her work area, to let the light shine through as she now was fully awake once more; and applied all her attention on the forgotten clue.
X-X-X
The Haitian slept on the floor in front of the Elevator doors having returned from his errands with Peter just under an hour ago. Peter remained outside beyond the protection of Haven hole. With Peter back there was hope. There was the possibility of a future where they might survive. The Haitian was determined to protect his small family; his life had been so intertwined with the Petrelli and Bennett families that he viewed himself as their personal protector. Nothing would get through these doors today while they slept. He stared at the ceiling as he thought of his home village in Haiti, was his mother still alive? It had been over 30 years since he saw her last. When he was there two years ago dieing from a virus that the company had infected him with, she had not been there. None of his family had been there in fact, they were all gone. He thought about Claire and how she had grown up and how he helped to guide her when she first discovered her abilities. She was the closest he had ever been to having a child of his own.
He dozed as he contemplated death. What was it like being dead? Peter had been dead once. Noah had been dead twice now. Claire had died so many times; he stopped counting after the tenth time. Nathan was dead too. Was it like becoming nothing? Would he cease to exist, or would he float forever dis-embodied? Would his soul be reborn into a cow, or a monkey? What if he came back as a spider? He hated spiders. Maybe he would become a Voo-Doo hexing spirit? Man will believe anything of the unknown…he laughed to himself as he closed his eyes and finally settled down to sleep. His last thoughts fading into dream land as his breathing became smooth and rhythmical. He new what he believed, no matter what, his mama taught him well, the Cross and Calvary. He whispered a silent prayer that Peter would return quickly, and they could then finally take the war to the enemy.
X-X-X
Claire walked into the large work room from the television lounge, rubbing her eyes as she made her way to the bathrooms. She needed to stretch her feet. She was angry at Sylar; but not too angry. Gretchen was a spy working for Estelle? She had tried to kill little Noah! Too bad she was dead. She would have enjoyed killing her former roommate, herself. She would have to think this through. She had time, she could not sleep;after time hopping with Hiro over the last few centuries, her internal time clock was now all messed up. She had been resting the last few hours but could not truly fall asleep. She was sharing a bunk room with Molly and Tracy. With Tracy watching over her father, and Molly snoring like a buzz saw, she had to get up and stretch her legs.
Claire saw Hiro fast asleep at the computer, his head resting on his keyboard. She gently lifted his head and removed the keyboard from under his cheek, placing his face back down on the solid desk top. She then covered him with a blanket she had wrapped around her own shoulders. Hiro had used the last of his abilities to get them back to the present. Now he couldn't control time jumps, and was afraid if he did jump in time, he would never get back to their present. She remembered the dozens of jumps they had made together over the last 50 years of so, trying to find their home. Each time he was more depleted in strength and his head hurt more.
She played with his short black hair for a moment. "Thank you Hiro" Each time he would wipe away blood from his ears and nose, steady himself by pulling some will power from deep inside and smile at her proclaiming, "This time we will get home." Then they would vanish into time once more.
Grandmother Petrelli was working at a large table nearby; holding up into the light a small jar with milky white liquid inside. Claire pulled up a chair for a moment, "Hi Grandma, what are you look at?"
Angela turned weary eyes toward Claire, her eyes rimmed in red. She set the small jar down on the table, "In this jar my dear, is the tip of a finger. Estelle received this in a special delivery package that the Haitian and I acquired just a few days ago. The note that was with it said, if she was smart enough this finger would help her find you." Claire looked at the note and read it through twice. Then she lifted the jar in the air against the faint light, to better look into the dark liquid. "If we can figure out who the finger came from, maybe we can figure out who is the power behind Estelle." Angela said eagerly.
Claire placed the jar back on the table, "I know who the finger is from."
Angela immediately came fully awake, and took a new look at the Jar on the table.
"There used to be two fingers, but that was almost 95 years ago in France," Claire said with a long off look to her eyes, "The finger is mine."
X-X-X
Gabriel Gray stood behind a simple hot dog cart in the middle of downtown New York City. He was worried. Peter had been so sure that Tracy's car would lead Estelle to them. But it had been over three days now and still no Estelle. Three days of selling hot dogs and soda from this little cart as they watched the car, and still no Estelle. He missed baby Noah and Claire. They were back in Haven hole. He smiled to himself, with his chosen form of disguise, they would never recognize him. His face and body was that of an older, balding, Asian man. His eyes dull but alert, like windows with the curtains pulled shut to hide the real Sylar within.
Once he saw a meter-maid stop by the vehicle and place a ticket on the window of the Blue Coupe parked along the curb. Once Peter Petrelli as the grizzled old man had stopped and placed something under the driver's side frame of the car. Gabriel looked up at the sky through the tall buildings and thought to himself, it was beginning to get dark. He began to shut down the hot dog cart, tomorrow maybe she would come.
As he lowered the umbrella he used for shade and to attract customers, a black SUV pulled up on his side of the street. The car parked right in front of him; it engine running. The door opened on the passenger side and out stepped Estelle; two agents hopped out of the SUV on the drivers side and approached the blue coupe cautiously. Estelle spoke into her cell phone. "We are at the location. The car is in sight. Your information was correct. We will check it out and call you back immediately." Estelle closed the cell phone, dropping it into her suit coat pocket and watched as her agents crossed the street towards Tracy's car.
Gabriel pushed back open the umbrella of his cart as planned, and waited. As he and Estelle watched the agents approached the car. He examined the woman the had recently caused so much pain in his life. Who was she talking to on the phone? Who did she report to? He resisted his hearts true desire to reach out with his bare hands and grab her by the throat. And watch her face as he squeezed the life out of body. He could snuff the the life out of her with just his mind, no evidence. But Peter was extremely clear; he must follow the plan.
The agents crossed the street and looked through the windows of the small blue car. One agent tried the passenger door handle, it was locked. The second agent tried the driver's side door handle, and as the handle lifted the car exploded with a thunderous BOOM. The car became a ball of fire, and leapt 5 feet straight up into the air. The agents flew through the air in opposite directions. One was thrown against the window of a small coffee shop covered in flames. He crumbled to the sidewalk in agony as people ran screaming for anything to put out the flames. The second agent were thrown by the blast through the air and into oncoming traffic shattering the windshield of passing car.
Estelle ducked behind the SUV to escape the blast, as the heat caused her eyebrows to curl and the hair on her arms to burn away. The flames and gas blew against the SUV she hid behind. The air became like acid and ripped at her lungs. She fell backwards to the ground gasping for breath. As the flames subsided Estelle struggled back to her feet. She was panting from the blast, and out of breath. Showtime, Gabriel thought as he grabbed a cold water bottle out of his hot dog cart cooler, and ran to Estelle's side, his turn in the plan.
"Ma'am, are you ok?" Gabriel asked in choppy and stumbling English. He helped Estelle to her feet, all the time she looked at the burning car and her dead agents in disbelief. In anger she kicked the tire of the SUV before her, and pounded her fist on the hood "Arrgh!"
"Here drink this miss. You almost died." Gabriel handed Estelle the cold bottle of water. Estelle looked at Gabriel suspiciously, but accepted the water from the small old Asian man. The coolness of the plastic bottle gave her a brief moment of comfort as she twisted the cap off. She lifted the bottle to her lips and time froze.
X-X-X
Hiro and Tracy Strauss walked around the flames and smoke of the burning car now frozen in time. He had been preparing for this moment for more then three days. He could only hold time frozen for a few more seconds, but that should be enough to complete their part of the plan. They approached Estelle now frozen with a water bottle to her lips. Hiro took her cell phone out of her pocket and replaced it with the original cell phone stolen by Angela and the Haitian. Tracy took her finger and placed it in the water through the neck of the water bottle. She liquefied her finger and left in the bottle a small portion of herself. It was done. Hiro then touched Tracy's shoulder and the two vanished just as time resumed.
Estelle drank the water bottle dry and tossed it to the street at the feet of the small Asian man, with a grunt and a brief nod of thank you. Estelle felt the buzz of her cell phone and reached into her pocket to grab her phone. She waved the small Asian man away, he was trying to wipe away the blood and soot off her face with a cool wet towel. "Go away old MAN!" She commanded and gave him a shove back towards his hot dog cart. Gabriel walked back towards the hot dog cart. He continued walking past the food cart and around the corner into the nearest alleyway leaping into the evening sky: his job done, now back to Claire and the baby.
Estelle lifted her cell phone to her ear at the last buzz. "Speak" Estelle replied to the caller.
"Hello Estelle, we need to talk, look behind you." A voice replied.
Estelle turned like a cat as she closed her phone and shoved it back into her pocket. There behind her, looking through a window of a restaurant she had not noticed as they arrived; holding a cup of tea towards her sat Angela Petrelli. Angela lower her tea cup and pointed to the door to the restaurant close by.
Estelle could hear the emergency sirens blaring as they came closer. She straightened her coat and opened the restaurant door. She walked across the dining area and sat down across from Angela Petrelli fuming with anger. "Very impressive Angela. I see you are now going to make this a fight. Give me the girl, and no one else will have to die."
Angela stirred her tea, "It appears your people are doing the dieing now, Estelle. Take me to your boss, he and I have a lot to discuss."
Estelle snorted at Angela, "Why do you think I have a boss?"
Angela set the tea cup back on the small plate before her, so gently that it made no sound, "Your kind always have a puppet master. There is always someone that is pulling your strings. You're just a small minnow swimming in a ocean of hungry sharks."
Estelle's face became cold as ice, "come with me!"
She took Angela by the arm and the two of them walked out the back door of the restaurant and toward a waiting taxi. Estelle pushed Angela into the back seat and climbed in next to her. "Airport, now driver!" Estelle commanded the man behind the wheel. "Yes ma'am" the driver said as the taxi pulled away from the curb. "Take the next alleyway, it is a shortcut." Angela told the driver.
The Taxi turned at the next alleyway just as there were two flashes of light and the pop of a silencer. The Taxi rolled to a stop against a brick wall, and knocked over a few parking meters. Estelle exited the vehicle, putting away her firearm into her shoulder holster; and adjusting her coat.
The Taxi cab driver was slumped over the steering wheel a gun shot to the back of his head.
Estelle bent over and looked back into the now dead taxi, Angela Petrelli looked back at her with sightless eyes open wide and face frozen in shock; a bullet hole between her eyes.
Estelle muttering to her self, "I bet you didn't see that one coming Mrs. Petrelli. Not in your wildest dreams."
***IF YOU ENJOY THE STORY SO FAR – PLEASE WRITE A REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK***