Rise of Kings and Queens

Chapter 37

JACMEL SAINT DECLARES WAR ON INJUSTICES

By L.M.Taurus

1/5/0029 UWC

12 hours before headline

Cairo and Yelena arrived at Luka Urban's estate where they were greeted by Fyn. Cairo and Fyn shared a hug.

"Welcome back, brother," said Cairo. "Been way too long."

"I know," said Fyn. "Esme had me on a special assignment for a long time."

"So you weren't off duty due to injury?"

"Not at all. That was a cover to get me off the public eye. I've been working with Celeste and Esme this whole time."

"I had no idea."

"Neither did I," said Yelena. "This was something Esme kept between the three of them."

"Honestly, this operation has been going on for a long time. I was brought in late myself."

"How's Celeste?" asked Cairo.

"She was fine the last time I saw her, but I lost contact with her after the last battle. That last battle was a mess. Your protege caused a lot more damage than helped."

"He's been through a lot recently," said Cairo. "His squad was almost completely wiped out by the Kallstrom siblings. I heard you lost Chano last night."

"Yeah, the thing is, Jacmel caused the situation to escalate to the point of complete chaos. What happened there didn't have to go the way it did. The media is calling the battle a success but we failed. I wasn't able to retrieve Luka's arm-cannon. One of the Agents of Dependency escaped and Julia Cabrera is with them."

"How's Luka holding up?" asked Yelena.

"Terribly," answered Fyn. "Julia was the one who killed Chano. I think it's a good possibility she is part of Dependency."

"I'll go check on him," said Yelena. "This really sucks, you know. He really liked her."

"It's nobody's fault. Shit like this just happens sometimes."

"I'm not too sure," said Yelena. "I looked the girl up before all of this. She had a bit of a shady past, but I didn't see any connection to Dependency. Shit, she was a refugee herself."

"Maybe there's more to her story than we know," said Cairo.

"Doesn't matter now," said Fyn. "She killed a world military soldier. We have to arrest her."

"Yeah," said Yelena, melancholy. "This really sucks." She went inside while Cairo and Fyn stayed outside.

"Cairo," said Fyn. "I really need to talk to you about Jacmel. That boy is really troubled."

"He's not a bad guy," said Cairo. "He's just been through a lot. Imagine losing your squad in an ambush while you're sleeping."

"I realize that, but he killed Lin Crespo in cold blood."

"I didn't know that."

"I kept it out of the report. Lin Crespo had surrendered and I was in the process of arresting him when Jacmel killed him in front of me. It was so sudden I couldn't even react."

"Why did you leave that out of your report? If that's what really happened, Jacmel should be on leave and under investigation."

"It happened," said Fyn as he looked down at the floor. "The thing is, Jacmel told me an ugly truth. We arrested Lin Crespo before and put him in jail. Lin Crespo then escaped and provided Dependency with the arm-cannon. How many people have died because we imprisoned Lin Crespo instead of putting him down."

"Putting him down is murder," said Cairo. "What Jacmel did was murder. You didn't do anything wrong when you arrested Lin Crespo the first time. So what if he escaped. That wasn't on you. That's on him and the people who helped him. The people they killed are on them, not you."

"But if we had killed Lin Crespo the first time, we would have saved all those people."

"It's still murder. That's a line we should never cross. It's what keeps us from turning evil."

"I don't think it's evil to kill an evil person. People are still dying because of that man's evil deed. I had the opportunity to stop that from ever happening. I can't help thinking all the people who died are on me."

"They're not. You did the right thing. Imprisoning Lin Crespo was the right thing. There was no way to know he was going to escape."

"Doesn't change the fact that he did."

"Look, we are supposed to be the epitome example of how a person should be. Everyone around the world looks up to us. We set the example of right and wrong. If we start executing people with no trial or investigation, we become murderers. If the world can't trust us to do the right thing, how could we expect the same back from them?"

"You're right," said Fyn. "We are the world military leaders. We have to set the right example."

"That's right, golden boy."

"Not you too. Don't call me that."

"I thought it was your nickname."

"Not by choice. What are you going to do about Jacmel?"

"We have to suspend him. We don't have to put him through a trial or imprison him, but we should take world military status away."

"He's your protege. You want to do it, or should I?"

"I'll handle it. Like you said, he is my protege. This is on me. I should have noticed he was going to eventually cross the line. Hopefully I can bring him back to the right side."

The entrance door opened and out came Arlo. "Hey, there's something on the TV you two should see."

The three went into the living room where they found Luka and Yelena watching the television. Cairo found Lois Taurus interviewing Jacmel. Behind Jacmel stood his two remaining squadmates, Renz and Bessy.

"As of today, we are no longer part of the world military," said Jacmel on TV. "The world military doesn't know how to get the job done. For years now Dependency have been terrorizing my people around the world. People who didn't do anything to anyone, yet we're getting killed in the street by the Kallstrom siblings and the Agents of Dependency. We are no longer going to accept this. Injustices will be dealt with extreme prejudice. People like Brodie Noble get rich by putting down people who are already struggling and the world military just lets him. It's time for that to change."

Jacmel grabbed the camera and looked straight into it. "Brodie Noble, we'll see you soon, mate." Jacmel dropped the cameras as it captured him and his squadmates walking off.