Sui Generis – 10

 

Brand was ready to move on to another spot. Fedor wasn't anywhere close by, unless he had disguised himself, which he hadn't the last time Brand had seen him. Not that I'd know until it was too late.

He glanced at Mag, who was on the roof of a building at the far end of the alley. He'd been splitting his attention between his friend and the alley for the last hour, undeniably proud that Mag seemed to be overcoming his fear of heights enough to actually watch what was happening, or not happening, in the alley.

Hefting his backpack over his shoulders, he moved rapidly from rooftop to rooftop, easily handling the different heights as he made his way across them to where Mag was kneeling with his attention locked on whatever was going on below him.

Without thinking he might frighten him, Brand walked up behind Mag.

Mag swung around, his hands tightly fisted, a look of terror on his face.

"Whoa, it's just me," Brand said, dropping down to kneel beside him.

Mag stared fearfully at him, his breath coming in fast pants. Slowly he relaxed, muttering, "You scared the hell out of me."

"So I see. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." Brand hugged him quickly.

"I know." Mag sighed. "If you'd been him, I'd have been up shit creek."

"But you'd have done some serious damage to his knees in the process," Brand retorted, when he realized Mag held a penknife in one hand.

"Yeah, maybe." Mag managed a smile, then a weak laugh. "Not much of a weapon, but I felt safer having it." 

"No doubt," Brand agreed, chuckling as he got to his feet again. "Ready to move on?" When Mag nodded, Brand held out his hand to help him up.

"I wish…"

"I had been him?" Brand asked.

"Yes. Then this would be over, or at least moving on to the next step."

"I'm with you on that, though I'd rather you see him before he gets as close as I was. I really do not want you in his clutches. You're supposed to be bait, not a victim."

"True enough. So where are we going next?"

They decided to move, block by block, closer to the creek, spending an hour or so in each of the alleys. It was close to morning when they finally gave up and headed home.

"If he was around, he's still playing games," Mag said, as they walked.

"I know but somehow I don't think he was. Or at least not where we were, when we were where we were." Brand chuckled. "If you get what I'm saying."

"At lot of 'weres', but I do. So we try again tomorrow night."

Brand nodded. "Or…"

"Or?"

"I was thinking. Alleys aren't the only place we'd go if we were still on the streets."

"The creek," Mag said, apparently getting what Brand was thinking.

"Yeah. It would be easier for him to find us, and—" Brand smiled, throwing one arm over Mag's shoulders, "—you wouldn't have to be up high, having panic attacks every time you looked three or four stories down."

"I wasn't. Well, okay, yeah I was at first but I started to get better. A bit." Mag grinned. "I wasn't leaving fingernail marks on the parapets on the last couple of roofs."

"Still, the creek might work to our advantage. I should have figured that out a month ago, instead of playing hide-and-seek in the alleys."

"So tomorrow we try it and see."

Sui Generis – 9

 

"What are you doing?" Brand asked.

"I'm going to call work to say I'm sick. And—" Mag shot a defiant look at Brand, "—I'll do it every day until we stop Fedor. That way I can sleep during the day and spend the nights on the street with you." He smiled slightly as he punched in the number. "The only thing we won't do is skip school. Got that?"

"Got it," Brand replied softly, amazed—and yet not terribly surprised—Mag was willing to do this for him. He knew, although Mag had never come right out and said so, that Mag had feelings for him that went beyond friendship. Once, before Fedor, Brand might have—probably would have—reciprocated and acted on his own feelings for Mag. Now—I'm not certain I have it in me anymore. I care for him, but is that enough to overcome how Fedor… changed me?

Brand was brought out of his reverie when Mag said, "Done. Now all we need is a plan."

"More than just hanging around alleys and rooftops?" Brand commented with a small smile.

"Exactly. If it wasn't some asshole who vandalized my garden… if Fedor was responsible, I'd say he knows about me. I'm hardly your invisible housemate. If I had to hazard a guess, even though he didn't let us know he was around, he probably saw the two of us together sometime during the last two nights."

Brand nodded. "Unfortunately, I'm sure you're right."

"So we play into that but… yeah, that would work. We do it separately tonight and for as long as it takes."

"Uh-uh, no way. All he'd have to do is grab you and he's have the leverage he needs to force me to come to him on his terms."

"I'm not saying we stay ten blocks apart, but if you're at one end of an alley and I'm at the other, that should make him think he could get to me before you could do anything about it. I see him coming, I yell for help, hopefully he runs, and then you follow him. Done deal."

"Possible," Brand said thoughtfully. "But… we make it seem as if we really have split up. When we get downtown I take off in one direction, you go the other, then I double back and hit whatever alley we decide on, but carefully, so he doesn't know I'm there. You're more overt about getting up to one of the roofs."

"Like the last two nights?" Mag said, grinning. "That never was my thing, if you remember rightly. I was always one to find a spot behind a dumpster or in a doorway, because I hate heights. I'm surprised he didn't see us going up there. If I'd been alone, then for damned sure he would have."

Brand chuckled. "Got that right, and that's what we're going to play into." And hope Fedor falls for it. That he does think we've split up and I'm somewhere else, because he knows I'm looking for him.

"Then let's do it." Mag shivered, murmuring, "Now's when I wish I had some Dramamine."

"I thought that was for motion sickness," Brand said, giving him a fast hug. "You'll be fine. Just don't look down when you get up there."

"That sort of defeats the purpose of why I'm supposed to be on the roof, doesn't it?"

Brand grinned. "Then close your eyes when you do. He won't know the difference, if he sees you."

"That'll work."

*****

If he could have, Mag would have closed his eyes as he climbed up the fire escape. When he was with Brand, he knew he was safe because his friend was there to make sure he didn't fall. But now…

He made it to the roof in one piece then crawled down to the far end. When he got there, he huddled against the parapet, trying to regain his composure before chancing looking over it into the alley three stories below him.

Finally, gripping the edge of the parapet as if it was a life-line, he peered down. Despite Brand's suggestion, he wasn't willing to keep his eyes closed. If he was going to be any help at all, he needed to see who was in the alley.

Everyone and their brother. Guess they figure the cops aren't running a sweep this far down, or they've been through already and so it's safe.

Every doorway, every place behind and between dumpsters, seemed to have an inhabitant. He wondered if he'd even realize Fedor was among them if the man chose to disguise himself as a homeless man.

Not that he really did the one time Brand saw him out here, but still… He shook his head in dismay. Blond. I'm looking for a blond. Still gripping the edge of the parapet as tightly as possible, he leaned forward a bit more, then pulled back quickly, feeling dizzy. I'm about as much help in finding him as a… a ditzy blonde.

He was damned if he was going to give up however. Fedor wouldn't know he was there if he didn't show his face, so to speak.

An hour passed. Every few minutes Mag took another fast look at the alley below him. All its denizens were asleep, as far as he could tell, and none of them were Fedor—as far as he could tell.

Suddenly he was aware there was someone behind him.

 

Sui Generis – 8

 

Seconds later, Mag was standing in front of Brand. "Talk."

"About what? How damned pissed I am that he seems to be eluding me? That's a given, I think. It's been two months. I should have found him by now. I almost did, last week, but I blew it. And why isn't he coming after me? That's what I can't figure out. He wants me back. He has to. I'm dangerous to him. If he did that…" Brand pointed to the sink full of vegetables. "If he did, then he knows where to find me for sure. I should leave before he comes after you as a way to… to punish me for running."

"Fuck no!" Mag said adamantly. "First off, where would you go? Secondly, even if you did disappear, that doesn't mean he wouldn't do something to me and then somehow let you know that he had. He kills me or… whatever, and it'll end up on the five o'clock news. You know he'd be sure it did, just to get the message out to you that no one you know is safe."

"That still doesn't explain why he hasn't tried to catch me yet."

"Games, Brand. Games. Despite the fact you've been very close-mouthed about what happened, I get the feeling he might be the kind of man who would get a great deal of pleasure in tormenting you with 'what ifs' until you're wrapped tight as a spring. He lets you think you got away scot free and then does something like tear up the garden. Then he pounces. He allows you come after him, guns blazing, so to speak, and he swats you down like a lion would a baby gazelle. Once he has you, he puts you back in the fold but with no hope of ever escaping again, making his triumph over you even sweeter."

Despite Mag's rather picturesque descriptions, Brand has the feeling he'd hit the nail on the head. Fedor loved bloodshed and torture, both physical and mental. He lived to impose his will on others in the worst ways possible. That's why he'd chosen Brand in the first place. Well, one of the reasons. I need to go on the offensive, more than I have. If I can. If… it's not all gone now.

Brand shivered.

"What?" Mag asked, sitting beside him but not too close.

"Just… thinking. Wondering if getting to him is even possible."

"It is if you give him a real reason to come after you. He may want you back, and he may like the games, but he needs to be drawn out so you can repay him for what he did to you."

"Don't you think I've been doing that already? I'm out on the streets every night, damn it. I can't believe the only time our paths crossed was on the Fourth. He has to know I'm somewhere, looking for him."

Mag nodded slowly. "Perhaps it's a catch-twenty-two for him as well. He stays in one place and waits, so do you. You move, so does he in opposite directions."

Brand would have liked to believe that was the case, but he knew better. Not that he'd tell Mag. So he just nodded. "Perhaps."

It is a game for him. The only question is, is he afraid I'll find him before he decides he's terrorized me enough that I'll be weak from fear when he finally tries to grab me? When does he think I'll reach that point? How will he know? I wish to hell I knew if the vandalism was by him or just random. There was nothing, no… message in it saying he did it. Besides, as I told Mag, he'd have done something more dramatic. A dead cat, a tortured dog, spilled blood, would be much more his style. But… maybe that's what he wants me to think.

"Damn it," Brand growled, getting to his feet. He looked hard at Mag. "If I leave you here, and it was him, you're not safe. If I take you with me again, and that's what he wants me to do…" He shook his head.

"Hobson's choice," Mag agreed wryly. "Still…" He took out his phone.

Sui Generis – 7

 

They spent the rest of the night moving from alley to alley with no luck. If Fedor was out there, he didn't appear where they were.

Brand began to wonder if it had been his imagination when he though he saw Fedor. Or, perhaps, he was there and saw I wasn't alone. Not that that would have fazed him in the least under normal circumstances. Still… He smiled wryly. These aren't normal circumstances. Not in the grand scheme of things.

Saturday night they tried again, with no success, leaving Brand tense and jumpy. After getting some sleep, again filled with dreams bordering on nightmares, he appeared downstairs mid-afternoon to find the ground floor empty. He knew, because he'd checked, that Mag was up and moving.

"So where the hell are you?" he growled. Taking one of his drinks from the fridge, he tossed it back and washed the container to be used again. Then he opened the back door, wondering if Mag was out in the small yard for some reason. 

He was, and he didn't seem happy when he whirled around to look at Brand. "If I get my hands on whoever did this," he said, pointing to his tiny but productive garden.

Brand could see why he was upset. Someone had torn up every vegetable. Not the way a dog would, by digging them out, but they were literally torn out and scattered around the area.

"Well that sucks. If they wanted something to eat, why didn't they take it with them?"

"They didn't even try eating. It's vandalism, pure and simple," Mag replied in exasperation, picking up a carrot, waving it in front of Brand's face. "See?"

Brand grabbed his wrist, trying not to laugh, even though it wasn't a laughing matter. "I see. The question is who would do such a thing. We barely know our neighbors, and we don't play loud music when they're trying to sleep, so I'd say they're out."

"Anyone dumpster-diving would have taken the veggies with them." Mag smiled tightly. "The way we did a time or three."

"True." Brand paced to the fence, checking the lock. Not that it really would have kept anyone out. The fence was only a deterrent to dogs prowling the alley, low enough to climb over unless one was small kid. He suspected even a determined five-year-old could get over it—or through the gate.

As he turned back to look at Mag, he saw a frown, followed a panicked expression, cross his face.

"You don't suppose…" Mag said hesitantly.

Brand knew what he was asking and shook his head. "Why would Fedor do something so infantile?"

"To let you know that he knows where you're living?"

"I suppose that's a possibility, but it's hardly a terrifying way to go about it. Blood poured on the porch or a dead animal dropped in front of the door, would have sent a stronger message."

"He's toying with you. Maybe tomorrow it will be the animal."

"And maybe it's just vandalism, pure and simple, by punks with nothing better to do with their time."

"No." Mag pointed to the neighbor's yard where there was a much bigger, and untouched, garden. "If that were the case, they'd have done the same thing there, don't you think?"

Brand had to agree. "Probably."

Sighing, Mag started to pick up the vegetables that were salvageable. "Now what do we do?"

"You go to work tomorrow and we both go to school, as if nothing was wrong. Then I keep on hunting for him. Sooner or later, our paths will cross again, his and mine. Only this time I'm going to be much more careful."

"Meaning what?" Mag asked, as he started toward the house with an armload of vegetables.

"Meaning I'll do everything possible to stay off his radar so I can follow him without his knowing. As you pointed out a couple of nights ago, staking out his… his lair… and catching him alone when he least expects it, would probably be a better option than trying to attack him in an alley with other people around."

"Would he be alone there?" Mag suddenly grumbled 'damn' under his breath when he couldn't get the back door open because his hands were too full.

Brand hurried over to help him and when they were inside, Mag dumped the vegetables into the sink, turning on the water to rinse off the dirt.

"I presume there are other people there," Brand said in reply to Mag's question of a moment ago. "I never saw them, though, other than… than the men…" He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "If he has cohorts, they paid no attention to me. He was the only one who did. He and…"

"You don't have to talk about it right now," Mag said quietly.

Brand managed to smile a bit. "But later on?"

"Sometime, Brand, you have to. You've been carrying around what happened to you deep inside. If you don't let it out…"

"Yes, Nurse Larsson," Brand said acerbically. "I think you're taking your studies too much to heart. I'm fine. I'm dealing. As soon as I catch him, it'll be over and I can move on." He knew he was overreacting and whirled around, striding out of the kitchen before he said something he shouldn't, or worse yet, took his anger out on Mag.

It's not his fault. He had nothing to do with it. And now—maybe—he's drawn Fedor's attention because I let him come with me the last two nights. So what do I do now? He grimaced, throwing himself down on the sofa. If I knew the answer to that, this would be over.

Sui Generis – 6

 

Mag's eyes widened when Brand leapt onto the dumpster as though it was only a couple of feet tall. When Brand knelt to give him a hand up, Mag said with a bit of awe, "You're a lot stronger than you look."

"Naw, just lots of practice," Brand replied off-handedly, as if it was nothing unusual. He grabbed the handrail of the fire escape, swung onto it, and started up, with Mag right behind him. "Stay low," he said, when they got to the rooftop, hunching down as he made his way to the corner where they'd have a view of both the alley and the street.   

 "Yeah I know. We don't want to be hassled by cops."

"Them or punks. But we also don't want Fedor to spot us if he's around. We'd lose the element of surprise."

Mag crept up beside him, trying not to let his fear of heights get to him as he asked, feeling foolish for not having done so before, "What does he look like?"

Brand chuckled wryly. "Yep, knowing would help. He's tall, has pale, blond hair, and an aquiline nose, sort of like Dante's."

"As if I know what Dante's nose looks like."

"Okay, good point." Brand took out his penknife and scratched a sketch of what he was talking about into a brick on the side of the roof's parapet. "Like that."

"Got it. That should make him stand out. At least somewhat. It sort of reminds me of Professor Caine, but he's short and dark-haired."

Brand thought for a moment then chuckled. "Yeah, I don't see him prowling the streets looking for victims."

Mag watched as Brand carefully leaned over to look up and down the alley. They'd chosen it because there were some people settling in for the night. From where he was kneeling, away from the edge of the roof, he could still see two boys at the end of the alley who looked to be in their late teens. They were leaning casually against the wall of one of the buildings, eyeing the male pedestrians who were walking by.

Mag asked softly, "Could they be working for Fedor?"

Brand shook his head. "Doubtful. He never let… He doesn't put anyone out on the street with someone else."

Mag wanted to ask why, but there was something in Brand's expression—a tightness—that made him change his mind. Sometime, though, I'm going to make him talk about it, for his own good. He didn't know how he'd accomplish it, but he'd figure it out.

"Anything?" Mag asked when Brand sat back on his heels.

"No. But we have all night."

"We're going to spend it here?"

Brand shrugged. "It's a catch-twenty-two. If we do, he'll be somewhere else. If we move on, he'll show up here ten minutes after we're gone."

"Can I ask something?"

"Sure."

"Why don't we just stake out wherever it was he kept you?"

"Because—" Brand glanced away, "—it's too dangerous."

"Now tell me the real reason," Mag said sharply.

"Okay," Brand replied with a dark look. "Because I don't know where that was."

"Hang on a second. How could you not know? I mean he sent you out to do… what those guys are doing." Mag pointed in the direction of the two teens they'd seen.

"I wish it was that easy," Brand murmured so softly Mag could barely hear him.

"Then explain it to me so I understand."

"I…" Brand stopped talking suddenly, leaning forward, his gaze locked on something below them in the alley.

Mag reluctantly inched forward, trying to see who had caught his attention. There was no one in sight as far as he could see except a raggedly dressed, white-haired homeless man who was shuffling away toward the entrance to the alley. "That's not him," he barely whispered, his lips brushing Brand's ear as he pointed to the man.

Brand sat back on his heels again, frowning. "No. Still, I was certain for a moment that he was down there."

"If so, he's either a ghost or invisible, because I didn't see anyone but that guy."

Brand's look was sour when he replied, "Trust me. Fedor's not a ghost. I guess… I suppose I thought I saw him because I want to so badly."

Mag smiled, giving him a fast hug. "Imagination plays tricks on us all at times. But unless he's an expert at disguises, that man wasn't him."

"I know that," Brand replied testily. "Maybe it's time to find another alley and try again."

Chuckling, Mag replied, "Catch-twenty-two, but maybe."