Kandar Ep38 Colors of Death Pt1

                          Kandar Episode 38 Colors of Death Part 1



      Back at the house, Jack started in on Jessie again about his health. "Ya ne’ ta rest and shant be out in tha woods alone where none can find ya if ya have ‘nother one of those attacks. Ya need ta take batter care of ya’self and..."

      Jessie listens to Jack rant on for a few moments, when he  paused to catch his breath, Jessie seized the opportunity to jump in.  “First off, you need to watch that accent of yours, remember there are people around here that can hear very well. Secondly, you know how many times I have been beaten, tortured, poisoned, shot, and stabbed and you are still more upset over this sickness.”

      Jack cleared his throat, then continued without the accent. “First off, I ordered sound dampening curtains and film for the windows plus the new painting we have are also for sound dampening, so...” Jack stuck his tongue out at Jessie to punctuate the comment. “Secondly, bullets can be removed, stab wounds can be sewn up, poisons have antidotes, but this.... we have no clue what it is, what compound or combination of compounds that are causing the effect. What the effects will be tomorrow, how sever they will be or even how long you have left.”

      "How long I... Really?” Jessie glared at Jack, but Jack just stared back at him defiant. “Five years we have known each other and you have known what I do for a living. Most of that time you have been listening and watching through your devices aiding me in my missions. You know I have not gotten this far by playing it safe all the time. I am not going to start now because I have a cold."

      "A COLD! This is much more serious than a simple cold. Ya need rest in my opinion however, I do know you and if you insist on this reckless behavior, it would be a jolly good start if you would at least stay here or somewhere I can get help to you."

      Jack was like a parent at times. It got on Jessie's nerves when he went on like this, even though he knew Jack meant well. “Ok, I will agree with your safety this time. I will concede that it is not just a simple cold and I need to work out in a more populated place with other people around.” Jack had started to feel good about how things were going, until Jessie gave him a devious smile that told him, something was about to be said he was not going to like. "Thats why I agreed to work out every morning in the main park... with Donnie and students."

      Jack could only stared at Jessie in utter disbelief for several minutes before he could muster the capacity to speak. "Do you seek out these things just to drive me mad, or are you just really this insane?"

      Jessie bust out laughing. "No, I'm just lucky I guess."

      "You call that lucky!?" Jack moved towards Jessie reaching toward his forehead with the inside of his wrist. "Come here I think your fever has begun to spike," his words were full of contempt.

      Jessie brushed his hand away. "We needed a way in with the Breema for information and this just fell in my lap. I know it seems crazy but, I am also going to be learning some of the Breema's gun katas as well."

      "A Breema's what?"

      "You know the gun exorcise routines you and I put together?" Jack nodded dumb founded. "Well, there are others of them dating back to the beginning on the war. Donnie agreed to teach me the ones he knows, if I teach him and his pupils ours." Jack was lost and unsure of what to say at all. "It will take some time to teach them mine and learn his, which will give me time and an avenue to work on him about the dragon riders and others things we need. Also, he does seem strangely giving in the area of knowledge, so I am intent on taking advantage of it."

      "You know after five years you would think I would be use to the constance near death experiences, narrow escapes, crazy things happening all the time, and your amazingly, absurdly, dumb luck. It is what managed to get myself and my colleagues out of that hell hole...but I'm not. I just...we agreed in the beginning that..." Jack wrings his hands nervously, "You know my life depends on you staying alive, right?"

      Jessie places a hand on Jack shoulder to comfort him. "First of all, I don’t plan on dieing here. Secondly, I am sure Miss Kitty would make a great leader for the guild and keep all of you safe though, she may have some degree of difficulty with our next projects. And last, my job is by its nature, dangerous. I kill people for a living. People pay me a lot of money to kill other people, and not everyone is happy about who I kill. In fact, enough people are unhappy enough, they are willing to pay other people even more money to kill me. To me, that means I am doing my job well. We also have to consider the League of Lazerous, A group of assassins who hunt only other assassins. Back at the Cross I was ranked against the other assassins in the order, out here, I can only rank myself by the bounty on my head. However, the main reason we took this job was to remove that bounty and stop the growing hunt for me, so we can work on others things. The way the old Breema set this up is training and a test of my skill all rolled into one. The fact the it frustrates me at every level just mean it is a very good test for me and I hope I learn a lot for this. I need to find and kill, correction, we need to find and kill the last person that links me to my past so we can be free to move on to our main two projects."

      "If you live that long." Jack retorted. He studied Jessie face for a moment trying to read his mood before asking "How do you deal with such an abnormal life."

      "I could ask you the same thing about your computer world you live in. You have to check every line of every program, on every device, stream, airwaves or laser light path that might could maybe come in contact with anything any of us are doing, then you check again. However, for me, this live is not abnormal. This life, is the only life I have ever known. I made my first kill at 10 and got an 'atta boy' for my efforts, moved up the ranks, and given more training." Jessie gives a good thumbs up with both hands and a stern look on his face. "It's not just what I am, it’s all I am. As disturbing as it sounds, that is the truth." He sighed as he took a seat at the new dinning room table. He studies the finish for a moment before he knocked on the table like a door. "This, is odd to me. Here and there, I get to pretend to be a normal person, with some sort of normal life, like a writer. Inside I am still me, and I don’t understand this kind of life. I can read the script and act the part but, when I look at people I see muscle structure, to evaluate possible strengths and weaknesses. Do they have a limp or favor one arm? Are they left or right handed? Only so I know what defense or offense to use. By the way, Breema all seem to be ambidextrous.”

      Jessie leaned forwards propping his arms on the table. “I notice more than just the habits of people around me. For example, we have been here 3 weeks and I already know most everyone schedule in this neighborhood. I know what time they get home, when they walk their pets, go jogging, or stroll through the neighbor with their kids. There are a few in particular that bother me. Specifically, there are four Kandar men, different spices, in this neighborhood that take way to much notice of all movement around them to be normal ‘civilians’ and they don’t appear to be old enough to have been in the war per say. I have spoken with only one of them, the others seem to keep their distance, which makes me more skeptical of them. I have noticed that they all have very similar builds, which is very athletic with good combat qualities, meaning their muscles look like they are more from weapons and melee training than just working out at the local gym or having done manual labor all their lives. The one I spoke with, Jonathan, claims to be single, two others appear to have wives with children, two each, and the last one is just dating a girl two streets over.” Jessie was always very animated when he spoke, unless he was holding a sniper rifle. Jack often though if you tied Jessie's hands to his side he would be rendered speechless. “Normal for me, is to figure out the easiest and quickest way to kill everyone I met and...if they all attacked at once, what order I would need to kill them in to have the best chance of survival."

      "That's sad, from an outside point of view of course." Jack joined Jessie at the table, sitting across from him.

      "That's just it, I don't feel that way, those tendencies are what has kept us alive. Just like, your paranoia of all things electronic do as well. And, in so many cases, you are right on target. I am sure I would not have made it this far without you. Honestly, for the work I do, I doubt I could have found a better partner." Jack smiled at the compliment.

      “Now back to the topic at hand. I have to say, that after all things considered, I don't think Donnie is the mark. I truly doubt a Breema would have sent me here to kill another Breema. Especially if you consider that there are not that many left in the world. For over a thousand years they have been the main target of every human army and the Cross Agency. Also, I am completely and totally sure he has nothing to do with my past what so ever. For the time being, I feel that I am safe around these Breema. I will keep my eyes and ears open at all time, you should know that about me. So if there is nothing else you would like to add here...” Jessie paused to give Jack a moment to respond, but Jack just sat there quietly. He could see Jessie was right about this and decided to just let it go. Donnie had even seemed honestly concerned the night the Murine Breema had delivered the last files, so being in a park with him would seem to be a good thing. “Then, I would like to add what a great honor it is to have the chance to train with the most revered warriors on the planet. So, if there is no farther objection, I need to get started towards town, we have let have the day slip buy already. I need the list of things you need and want. I will even go to the swap store for you."

      “Will you wear a recorder?” Jack asked on the off chance Jessie would accept. He had been so distance from the idea recently he was unsure.

      “Yes,” Jessie nodded “that is a good idea. I’ll take an ear piece and some tracer tags too, just encase. You never know what kind of fish we might catch.” Jessie stood up from the table and started down the hall to his room to change into rinse off and change clothes before heading to town. Without warning he spun around almost running into Jack who was right on his heels. “Why didn't I see it before!” he exclaimed suddenly. Jessie grabbed Jack by the shoulders and shook him. “The colors! I know what they mean!”