Available Darkness Season 1

long track record of working on Earth.”
    “Thank you,” John said, “for everything.”
    Adam nodded, then added, “I know you plan to go after Harbinger, but I’ve got to tell you. I think it’s a mistake. Especially now. If we can’t keep Caleb in check, Jacob will find him. Caleb hasn’t got your defenses. He’s going to need you to keep watch on him more than ever.”
    “So, what am I supposed to do?” John said, “Go back off the grid? Follow Caleb back home and play secret bodyguard from the shadows?”
    “Unless you’re certain you’re certain you can kill Jacob and bring Harbinger down, that’s exactly what I’m suggesting.”
    “But what about Hope?”
    “You have to let her go on with her new life.”
    John closed his eyes then looked around the room, weighing Adam’s words against his desire just to get everything over with so he could try and find Hope again. Adam was right. The smart move was to go underground, keep an eye on Caleb, and ensure his safety before making a move on Jacob.
    John had allowed his feelings for Hope to cloud his judgment and his lifelong commitment to keeping his brother, Caleb, safe. His love had made him weak. And that weakness could destroy not just their lives, but this world.
    “OK,” John said. “We go underground. For now.”

    * * * *

* * * * * * *

PART THREE: INTO THE PRESENT

    “He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”
    — Friedrich Nietzsche

    * * * * * * *

CHAPTER 10 — John

    Two weeks ago …
    October 4, 2011

    John sat on the porch of his cabin, watching as the sun set over the lake. He reached down and stroked Calvin’s head. The Golden Retriever’s tail came to life, wiping the floor of the wooden deck.
    “Ready for a walk?” John said, setting his beer next to his Kindle on the chipped mosaic table beside him.
    Calvin leaped up surprisingly quick for a dog so old. The dog was more youthful than John was feeling these days. The veneer of a young 20-something guise he’d worn so long had faded over the last decade since he’d last fed. He now looked mid-forties, and his body felt a decade older, every joint screaming as he stood.
    “Come on,” John said as the dog led him along the twisting path on the way to the lake. In the distance, on the other side of the water, John saw lights flicker from inside the house of his only neighbor in the acres of secluded woodland. John thought he should drive over and introduce himself someday. It’d been a while since he’d had any company other than Larry. As he approached the deck leading out to a jetty, he reconsidered the car ride to his neighbor’s. Maybe he’d take the boat.
    The sky had already bled from orange to bruised violet, but most of the world was made from the shades of black and branches that surrounded them. A cool wind blew by, bringing an unfamiliar scent— a flower?
    No, a cologne of some sort.
    A moment later, Calvin rumbled with a low whine, sensing what John had already—they weren’t alone.
    A shot rang out. John felt a sharp sting in his neck. His world curled crimson at the edges, then faded to black. He was out before he hit the ground.

    **

    John woke in his living room, hands cuffed behind him by plastic tethers, his feet tied to the legs of his kitchen chair. An old man in a dark gray suit sat in front of him—a man John had hoped he’d never see again, Duncan Alderman.
    They weren’t alone. John sensed four agents outside the cabin, and a car idling nearby.
    “Where’s my dog?” John asked as he came to.
    “Sleeping in your bedroom,” the man said, “he’s fine.”
    “Do you remember me, John? It’s been a long time.”
    “There’s some things you never forget,” John said matter-of-factly.
    “I’d like to apologize. You know we were only trying to heal you.” Duncan said, leaning forward in his chair, opposite John, “We tried to get rid of the parasite so you could live a normal life… like Caleb.”
    John said nothing to the man who split he and his brother up after the murder of their mother. The man who placed Caleb in foster care, but locked John in a government hospital/laboratory, where scientists poked him like a lab rat for years. The same man who said John was broken, but then tried to use John, to turn him into a killer for the Guardians.
    “We failed you, John.”
    “No, I escaped,” John corrected him.