What She Thought She Knew (Rachel Moore Mystery Book 1), стр. 67
"Hate me all you want, Agent Moore, but they got in my way. Individuals who do that all share the same fate," the leader replied cruelly. "You too share the guilt of their deaths. Remember your first mission with the Seekers? What was it like to have to kill your own family members?"
"They weren't my family!" I shouted. "You turned them into monsters!"
I shut my eyes tightly to fight back the heartbreaking memories that threatened to break free of their mental cage.
"Hardly," the Phantom leader replied. "They were improved for our purposes."
"The purpose of what? Gaining world domination at the expense of human freedom?" I said.
"Each society has a built-in hierarchy. Those who are smart enough to extract it will succeed. We're merely doing what nature had intended. Even your Seeker organization has one. The higher ranked agents are considered to be Warriors, Guardians, Assassins, etc… The rest, just like yourself, are considered to be of the lower ranks. You're not important to the Seekers; they found you so weak that they assigned a Guardian to look after you."
My eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What do you know about my Guardian?" I asked.
He chuckled. "Oh, I know a lot more about him than you do."
I was about to ask him how, but the man got up, and shined my mother's necklace in the light.
He shook his head. "The sense of finding comfort in material goods is a waste of time. Instead of mourning the past, you have to focus on the future. 'Never let anything stand between you and your mission's goal'; isn't that what the Seekers taught you?"
I stayed silent.
The Phantom leader shook his head again in disapproval. "And here I was so sure that you of all people would understand that moral."
At that remark, I snapped. "What do you know about morals? All you care about is gaining power, even if it means taking away our freedom to get it. You know nothing about being human, even if the answer was right in your face." I paused as I took the time to observe his reaction.
When he showed none, I continued. "You would never understand what it's like to be free, and to show love for the ones you care about. You're a monster!"
Silence filled the room as it enveloped it in an eerie atmosphere. "Is that so?"
I shuffled nervously as he knelt in front of me. "I believe it's time that I've let you in on a little secret."
He then pressed his lips against my ear and whispered.
My eyes widened in shock, the blood in my veins felt like it turned to ice. My vision then became red with fury, and my heart accelerated like a running train speeding down its tracks.
The combined reactions caused my entire body to shake uncontrollably to the point where I would have fallen over if I wasn't already on the ground.
I wanted to scream, to claw at the monster's face in front of me for daring to commit such an inhumane and horrific crime. He's alive, I thought in disbelief. He's alive…
The Phantom leader smirked in amusement, and cocked his head. "Do you really know who I am, Agent Moore?" He asked again.
Before I could reply, the man harshly grabbed my face and forced me to look at him.
For the first time ever, I finally had a good look at his illuminated face, although what I saw took me completely by surprise.
The man regarded me with a knowing smirk.
I stared back in shock. He had his eyes.
Chapter 32: Family Ties
"NO!" I screamed. "IT CAN'T BE!"
"Oh, but it is." The Phantom leader replied calmly.
"No!" I repeated. "He's not like you; he's different!"
"I made him; he is my own flesh and blood." The Phantom leader said. "He may work for the Seekers, but as the expression goes: 'like father, like son.'"
I shook my head in defiance. "You may be his father, but he is most certainly not like you. He actually values human life, unlike you. Whenever you were mentioned, he always cringed at the thought."
The Phantom leader tossed his cigarette to the side. "I'm not surprised about that." He simply replied. "However, I hold more control over his life than even he knows. He will do as I say, or else."
"Or else what?" I said, though I dreaded the answer.
The man chuckled briefly. "Oh, you don't need to worry about that. His problems will 'cool' over if he does exactly what I say."
It took a moment for my brain to connect the dots, and when it did, my eyes widened as I realized what he was talking about. "You're a monster!" I shouted.
The man chuckled once more, as if amused by my anger. "It seems that you know about my former wife. She never did agree with my ideologies about the future. She even reacted the way you are now."
I huffed. "For good reason, you psychopath. You're the one who wants to bring Armageddon!"
The Phantom leader stared at me, his glowing eyes swirled as if deep in contemplation. "No…" he trailed. "I'm bringing peace."
He stood up, and leaned against the wall to get comfortable. "I believe that if humans didn't exist, than this world would be close to perfect. This matter has no true right or wrong answer because everyone has their own point of view of what is perfect and not."
The man pushed himself off the wall, and started pacing carelessly around the tiny cell. "Without a doubt, humans allow their better judgment to be clouded by their emotions. Their only concerns are for themselves; every human being has evil within