Vengeance and Confusion

by Seven


Disclaimer:  Earth: Final Conflict and its characters are copyrighted by Tribune Entertainment Company.  All rights reserved.



Note from Author:   Takes place shortly before "Crossfire".



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Liam Kincaid smoothed his jacket and frowned. "I don't know. This suit makes me look... kinda stiff."

Nearby, Lili was touching up her makeup. Her brown hair had a small silver chain running through it, with tiny golden charms on it. She was wearing a silver evening dress, the first time Liam had ever seen her wearing it. "Don't worry, Liam. Nothing will go wrong tonight. Just a nice, formal reception for the two presidential candidates."

"That's another thing that worries me," Liam commented, wriggling in his suit. "We'll have to be on the alert all night or Doors and Thompson will kill each other."

"You're ALWAYS on the alert," Lili complained, prodding one of her earrings. "When will you relax?"

"When Da'an is safe from everyone and when the Resistance gives me a month off," Liam stated tensely. "THEN and only then will I relax."

Lili shrugged. "I give up."

Liam glanced at her and sighed, "Sorry, Lili. I guess I'm a bit worried. Da'an has been getting these weird calls, and the voice of the person on the other end has been filtered."

"Are they threatening?" Lili asked.

"That's another thing we aren't certain about." Liam glanced at his watch. "Listen, I've got to get over to the Embassy to pick Da'an up. You'll be at the reception hall with Sandoval and Zo'or in say, half an hour?"

Lili nodded and watched him head for the door. Then he stopped, turned around and stared at her. "How can you pilot in a skirt?" he asked curiously. Lili looked embarrassed as he walked away.

****

Da'an was holding a global, with an expression of mixed bewilderment and astonishment on his face. As Liam approached him, he wordlessly held out the global. Liam took it and read the message.

Da'an--

Soon, the game will be played for the last time. One piece will be checkmated. Watch for the curtain to fall and the show to be over.

--Lurker

Liam winced a little. "You got this?"

"Approximately five minutes ago," Da'an said worriedly. "I do not understand it."

"Neither do I. Either it's someone who wants to keep you in the dark while dangling hints in front of you, or they expect you to figure it out." Liam slapped the global shut. "Either way, I think it's sick."

Da'an closed his eyes, composed himself, and asked, "Are you prepared for the reception, Liam?"

"I've got the tux."

"So you do." Da'an smiled a little and stepped down from his chair. "If you have any insights as to the message, please inform me."

Liam glanced down, and said, "Yeah."

****

The reception hall was partially filled with politicians, both major and minor. They milled about, sipping punch and joking, conversing about anything except politics.

Liam kept close behind Da'an, determined not to lose his charge in the crowd. He wouldn't admit it to Da'an, and worry him, but he was deathly afraid that Da'an was in danger. The note sent to him had the markings of a lunatic, and possibly a dangerous one. He wasn't certain if Da'an could sense his worry, but after all, he thought, what use is being a bodyguard if you can't worry?

"Liam!" The whisper in his ear made Liam jump. He accidently bumped Da'an into stumbling forward into the President's daughter. Da'an offered an apology to the startled young woman, turned, and asked, "What is wrong?"

"Liam, I just brought Zo'or and Sandoval here," Lili said, indicating the far tables, where the President, Da'an, and Zo'or would be seated. Near the tables were virtual-glass encased rooms where Sandoval and Liam would monitor the proceedings and possibly defend their charges physically. "President Windbag is talking to them."

Liam snickered at her description of Thompson. Da'an smiled a little, before noticing that Lili was not smiling.

"Anyway, I overheard Thompson saying that he's been receiving odd pages and notes," Lili whispered. "They warn that 'the game will be played, a piece will be checkmated... and... and...'" She fumbled mentally.

"The curtain will fall and the show will be over," Liam blurted.

Lili stared at him. "How did you know that?"

"Because Da'an got a similar message."

Lili was about to reply, when a deep, gravelly voice interjected, "Lovely night, no?"

Jonathan Doors turned around from a conversation with the nearby mayor of New York. He shrugged at the sober expressions on the faces of the three. "Or not."

"Have you received any threats?" Liam asked bluntly.

Doors shrugged. "I get a lot of threats, ranging from violence against my family to chopping me into little pieces to forcing me to watch five straight hours of children's-ed TV. Can you specify?"

Liam took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and recited from memory, "The game will be played for the last time. A piece will be checkmated. The curtain will fall-"

"And the show will be over," Doors finished, confused and suspicious. "How did you know that?"

"I received a similar message," Da'an said quietly. "As did President Thompson."

Doors began to reply, but the crowd was rippling as the president approached them. The genial-appearing man smiled broadly at Da'an and murmured a quick greeting, then turned to Doors, his expression hardening somewhat. "Well," he said cheerfully. "If it isn't my rival!"

"Hello, nemesis," Doors said with an equal smile and false cheerfulness.

Liam grimaced and pointed at Da'an. "Take care of him for a moment," he mouthed to Lili, who nodded and made an "okay" gesture with one hand.

****

Sandoval was conversing softly with a smiling Zo'or when Liam found them. As Liam approached them, the conversation immediately evaporated and Zo'or began to stare at Liam somewhat blandly. Liam smiled with what he hoped looked like respect and grabbed Sandoval's shoulders. "Sorry to interrupt," he said charmingly to Zo'or. "But I need to borrow Agent Sandoval."

Sandoval began to bluster, "Major!" but Liam pulled him into the security area in one of the walls, protected by virtual glass. Long red velvet curtains obscured the Taelon technology. "What is the meaning of this?" he hissed, pulling out of Liam's grasp.

Liam dropped his charming attitude and growled, "Da'an, Thompson, and Doors have been threatened, and I think someone may be planning a triple assassination."

Sandoval stopped. "The Resistance?"

"Why would they want to kill Doors?" Liam countered. "And while there are undoubtedly some Taelon-supporters who wish Da'an dead..." He saw the FBI agent cringe a little and couldn't help smiling a little. "I doubt they'd also go for Thompson."

Sandoval looked thoughtful. "Then who?"

"I haven't a clue, but you can bet I plan to find out." Liam ran a hand over his forehead. "How would you kill Da'an, Doors and Thompson all at once? A bomb?"

"We've already swept the area. I supervised it myself," Sandoval stated. "But I will have it done again."

"What about the food?" Liam asked.

Sandoval smiled a little. "Taelons don't eat."

"But an assassin could put some sort of substance on a piece of food. If Da'an were to pick it up-"

"I get the idea, Major," Sandoval replied with a grimace. "There's only one way to find out."

----

The long table was decked with plates from end to end. Though the room was dimmed, Liam was astonished at the complexity on it all. Sandoval walked over to the table, picked up a chocolate, and smiled a little. "This is certainly going to be difficult." He popped it into his mouth, and made a face as he swallowed. "Too sweet."

Liam picked up an orange and began to tear it apart, then stopped. "How could they put poison in the food without risking poisoning the wrong people. You might want to spit that out, Sandoval," he advised.

"Too late," Sandoval said, massaging his throat.

"What are you doing in here?" a voice asked. Liam turned around to see the mayor of New York, Philip Rosso, standing in the doorway. He was staring at them as if they had lost their minds.

Sandoval casually flashed his ID. "Companion Agent Sandoval, this is Major Kincaid."

Rosso squinted at the ID, and groaned. His unusually muscular body sagged a little. "Then why are you raiding the pantry?"

"We have reason to believe that attempts on three lives will occur tonight," Liam said, rubbing at his shakarava. "We were checking the food for poison."

Rosso uttered a nervous laugh. "Trust me, there is-"

Sandoval groaned out loud and lurched to the side. His face was contorted in pain, he was bent over, arms wrapped over his stomach. "Sandoval?" Liam asked, running to Sandoval's side. "Are you okay?"

"No," Sandoval grunted, breathing shallowly. "Stabbing pain..."

*Oh no,* Liam thought, helping Sandoval stagger to the doorway and shoving the door open. "Someone call an ambulance!" he shouted as they entered the lighted, people-filled hall. Everyone was staring at them, including Da'an, Zo'or, Doors and Thompson from the head table. Da'an rose out of his chair as Liam shouted again, "This man has been poisoned! Someone CALL 911!"

Lili shoved her way past the crowd, pulling her silver skirt up to knee level for speed. She knelt beside Sandoval, who was sweating and having difficulty breathing. "I just called 911," a man nearby announced. "They're sending a medivac team."

"Liam!" Da'an's urgent whisper startled Liam. He straightened up and asked, "Yes?"

Da'an looked worried, and the faster twitchings of his fingers only betrayed more anxiety than his face showed. "Zo'or has vanished."

"Vanished?"

"I feel... that Zo'or is afraid for his life," Da'an said, half-closing his eyes and then widening them again. "Please find him."

Liam looked around wildly. A dozen Taelons could be lost in the near-full room and he'd have no idea where they were. Then his eye fell on the security bunker. The red velvet curtains that covered the Taelon virtual glass were ripped, sagging to the floor.

*The curtain will fall.*

Liam ran toward the bunker, tore down the remnents of the curtain down, and dove through.

****

He saw Zo'or as soon as he entered. The Taelon leader was backed against a wall covered in computer consoles. His breathing was faster than Liam had ever heard it. And a man, wearing a rumpled suit was aiming a modified gun at him. "Don't move too fast, Kincaid," the grim man said. "This has been modified to shoot laser beams. They can kill... even a Taelon."

Liam slowly began to walk in a circle. And as the man's face came into view, he gasped.

Rosso.

"What are you doing?" Zo'or asked nervously.

Rosso uttered a laugh that, chillingly, reminded Liam of the late Lazarus. "Just getting my revenge for your little schemes, you son of a-"

"Rosso!" Liam called, easing in front of Zo'or with his arms spread. "Why are you doing this? You're the mayor of New York, why are you trying to murder Zo'or?"

"Because," the tortured man replied bitterly, "he destroyed my life. My wife was an advocate of the Resistance, and one day a hired assassin named Corr killed her." He took a deep, shuddering breath. "Blew up her car. I got Corr arrested, only to find that he was released. At the orders," he said venormously, "of Zo'or. Saw her as a nuisance, and sent Corr to kill her, and released him when the rat got caught."

"So," Liam asked, "why did you send those notes to Da'an, Doors and Thompson?"

Rosso grimaced. "Warnings. And don't worry about Agent Sandoval. The poison isn't fatal, just painful."

He waved the weapon, and Liam tensed, still standing protectively in front of Zo'or. "Rosso, this isn't the way," he said quietly. "You'll only end up dying for something that can't be changed."

Rosso laughed without a spark of humor. "Yeah, I know. Killing Zo'or won't bring back Linda. Guess what, Major? I don't care. At least his killings will stop. At least Linda can watch this guy rot in hell."

Liam slowly began to approach Rosso. "You're not a killer," he said quietly, extending his hand. "And death only breeds more death. Give me the gun."

Rosso took a step back, shaking his head. "No."

"Please, give me the gun, " Liam whispered, his fingers brushing the gun. He only prayed that Rosso wouldn't get too worked up to retain control. "If Linda were here, would she tell you to fire?"

Rosso's eyes flared and he gun over Liam's shoulder. "Die, you creature," he hissed.

Zo'or gasped. Liam chopped upwards, hitting Rosso's arm and flinging the gun to the floor. A laser bolt passed into the virtual glass, blasting a hole in it. Liam stepped on the gun and crushed the plastic. Rosso was now covering his face with both hands, muttering the name "Linda" over and over.

****

"He's been taken away for some time at an institution," Lili announced, standing in front of Zo'or's command chair. Behind her was Liam, rubbing absently at his shakarava.

Zo'or glanced down for a moment. "Sadly, his delusional state seems to have been triggered by unfortunate reports given out by the Resistance. None of his accusations have any basis in fact."

Lili heard Liam choke behind her. Zo'or looked sharply at his rival's protector, then called, "Major Kincaid?"

Liam looked up, his boyish face now composed. "Yes?"

Zo'or paused for a moment, as if thinking it over. "You did well."

Liam raised an eyebrow, nodded to Zo'or and Lili, and left the bridge. He couldn't help grinning as he wondered, *Would it have been too much to say "Thank you"?*