Red Dirt (Finale)

Private Andy Ferris was a tall kid. Blonde hair, combed back in perfect military style. He'd had an injured leg, but it didn't seem to be holding him back much Daniel thought as Ferris ran through a brick wall.

The soldier had been in a gym, playing basketball when they'd come it. Bennet had gotten Newson to track him down. Inside the gym, Ferris took one look at Bennet, then another at Ellis, and started running.

"He can feel the magic" Ellis swore.

Daniel hadn't thought about that. He'd never hunted another Tracer before. But now, in person, he could smell something surging off of Ferris. His own unique flavor of magic, an acrid burning sensation.

Ferris reached the far wall of the gym, laid his hand on it, and melted it. The brickwork instantly transformed into a red muddy sludge. Daniel could imagine its effect on a person. "Is that what happened to—" Newson asked.

"Seems likely" Bennet said.

The gym was in chaos after the wall melted. Bennet and Newson ran forward through the crowd. Daniel slid back through the door they'd come from and looked around.

"What's the play?" Ellis asked. She'd followed him outside. "I can tell you have an idea."

Daniel shrugged. "He knew who we were."

Ellis nodded. "His reaction time was too quick. He has a plan for this."

And he'd been watching Ellis and Bennet at least. He knew them by face. The soldier probably didn't know about The Agency, but he knew what the off-base experts had been brought in to solve. It had probably been the gossip of the year.

The acrid smell drifted on the wind to the north. Daniel spun the base around in his head, trying to remember what he'd seen on his early morning walks. The north side of the base bordered the woods, which was a decent way to try and lose an individual pursuer. But Ferris had to know that Bennet and Newson would be chasing him soon.

If he ran north, along the main road, he'd be caught before he reached the woods. But he had his Talent. Daniel reconfigured the map, treating buildings as cover. Closely packed hallways would be the most comfortable. Ferris could cut an unexpected path and lose anyone.

The administration building was north of the gym. And the alley where the officer had been killed.

"If he goes back to the site of the murder, what's through there?" Daniel asked. He had underestimated Ellis one too many times. She frowned.

"The loading docks, obviously. But that's not helpful to him."

Daniel half-smiled. "If he wants to get off the base it is."

"The trucks!" Ellis said, making the connection. "He could cut his way into any one of them, and we'd never know. That's probably what he was doing when the Officer caught him."

Daniel agreed. Ferris had probably wanted to get off base. After learning he had a Trace, getting as far away from the military as possible was the only thing that made sense. If he hadn't stumbled across a half-drunk logistics officer, Ferris could have made it. Just gone on the run. Which was stupid, Daniel knew. If anyone could escape The Agency, he would have done it years ago.

He started running, sprinting towards the alley. Ellis quickly fell behind, so Daniel slowed down. He wanted to catch Ferris, but not as badly as he wanted to keep being underestimated. Running faster than an Olympic sprinter across half a military base wouldn't do that.

<<BENNET LOST HIM>> Ellis said. Only she hadn't said a thing. She was out of breath, four paces behind him.

<<I THOUGHT YOU FIGURED THIS STUFF OUT>> Ellis said, from somewhere inside his mind. She had a notably joy at surprising and disturbing him. Daniel concentrated on a concept. <<GO AROUND TO THE ALLEY>>

<<COPY>> Ellis sent back.

He rushed ahead. They knew where Ferris was going to be, so Ellis could get there first. But they needed to keep him on track. That's where Daniel's ability would come in handy. He couldn't speak inside people's minds, but he could catch anyone in a foot chase. He measured his speed. If Bennet had lost sight of Ferris a few moments ago, Daniel could work out roughly where the rouge Tracer was. He wanted to arrive directly behind him, not ahead.

He rounded a corner and grabbed onto the light post to jolt to a stomach wrenching halt. Ferris' acrid smell was right on top of him. On one of the busiest sections of the base, the yard right in front of the administration building. He scanned the crowd. There! A tuft of blonde hair stuck out from underneath a hat. Walking quickly, he fell into step behind him.

Ferris, and it was him, ducked carefully into the building. Daniel was only a few steps behind, which proved to be his undoing. When the soldier turned to shut the door, he looked right through its glass front at Daniel. The odd man out in a sweaty white collared shirt and red tie.

Ferris turned and ran. Daniel raced up the steps, two at a time, and crashed into the door. It opened outward, so Daniel had to stop. Ferris vanished around the corner inside.

Daniel followed, as quickly as he could and concentrated on Ellis' face. He didn't really know how this worked, but he had to get her attention. She'd noticed Bennet half a mile away, so he was in range.

<<I'M LISTENING>> she said. Daniel almost tripped mid-run. She sounded like she was right next to him, or maybe in a pair of earbuds. He concentrated again. <<HE'S IN THE BUILDING, COMING YOUR WAY FAST>>

<<HOW DO I STOP HIM>> Ellis asked.

Daniel hadn't really thought that far ahead. <<DON'T LET HIM TOUCH YOU>> he sent.

Something that felt like laughter came back. That probably meant Ellis had a plan.

He burst into a lobby, already in disarray. A secretary was screaming from behind his desk, staring at the bloody puddle that probably used to be a guard.

It was thick enough to slip in, so Daniel jumped over it. Now he had another tool. Bloody red boot prints lead him down the hall and into another. There a hole had been carved through an office space, and the boot prints suddenly ended. A pair of boots were discarded nearby, their laces steaming, and half melted. He'd ripped off his shoes.

Daniel ran into the office a maze of light blue cubicles. One worker, an analyst of some kind cowered behind a table.

"Which way?" Daniel demanded, pulling out his Glock. Ferris was trained and willing to kill. The soldier could be waiting for him around the next corner. The office worker pointed past a printer into a bathroom. Inside the tile wall had been melted out and sat in dripping, steaming ruin. Daniel carefully jumped through the hole and found himself in the back of the offices. He recognized this. The officer's mess was just on the right. An exterior door flapped in shut in front of him.

<<HE'S HERE>> Ellis said.

Daniel lunged forward.

"If you take another step, I'll have to drop you!" He heard Ellis say. Had she gotten her hands on a gun, Daniel wondered?

He burst through the door onto the back porch and saw that she hadn't. Ferris stood, barefoot, in the dirt. The loading trucks were just meters away, behind Ellis. She had her hand raised, like a comic-book superhero about to fire an energy blast. Daniel half-smiled again. Ferris didn't know what she could do.

"Put your hands up!" Daniel shouted.

Ferris spun around in shock but got over it quickly.

"You're like me." He said, "There's no way you moved that fast naturally."

Daniel stayed focused. "Hands up. Final warning."

Ferris complied, and Daniel stepped closer. The Agency would want him. Now that he'd killed soldiers though, so would the Army.

<<WHAT DO WE DO WITH HIM?>> Ellis asked.

"What are you going to do?" Ferris asked, "Got any handcuffs?"

Daniel wasn't going to get that close to him. He stopped about six feet in front of the soldier. "Get down on the ground, with your hands spread."

<<TELL BENNET WHERE WE ARE, USING YOUR PHONE>>

Ellis nodded and started making the call. Ferris sank into a crouch but didn't move any further. He looked at Daniel, then turned to look at Ellis, now on the phone.

"You're the trainees, aren't you." He asked. He nodded at Daniel's ankle monitor, visible after the chase. "They've got you on a leash."

Daniel needed him to run, he decided. The Army wouldn't care, but The Agency would. They valued live test subjects too much. "They'll put you in a cage." Daniel said.

Ferris nodded. "That's what I was thinking." Too late, Daniel realized that he'd been able to lay both his hands on the dirt. There was a burst of burning magic, and the ground beneath Daniel shifted, then melted. He sank, waist deep into boiling mud, pitching forwards.

Anyone else would have fallen on their face, sank into the mud. Daniel had an extra second of reaction time. He twisted midair and stuck out his left hand, praying that Ferris' trace worked how he thought they did.

The soldier had only cut out small holes in objects, thin walls. Daniel assumed there was a cap on the volume. A waist deep mud pit couldn't be too wide. He grabbed at the dirt and found a handhold. Firm, steady, dusty dirt, only a foot away. He clung to the side like a swimmer pulling themselves out of the pool and hauled upwards.

"What's your trick?" Daniel heard Ferris say. "If you could blast me or something, you would have done it already."

"This is your last warning!" Ellis shouted.

Daniel rolled out. Ferris had his back turned, advancing towards Ellis. She was holding up her hand, still bluffing.

"Last warning for what?" Ferris asked.

Ellis turned and ran three steps, then jumped around behind one of the trucks. Daniel found his shooting platform at a kneel and sighted on Ferris.

Shooting a gun takes a certain mental toll on you the first time you do it. You get the gun ready, line it up as you've been taught, and then your brain hangs. It freezes. You've been told everything, you know what you want to do, but actually pulling the trigger requires an extra push. That's why so many first-time shooters close their eyes. It's the same thing you have to overcome to bungee jump or walk out on stage. Or, as Daniel discovered, to kill another person.

He expected it to be harder, to take some kind of toll. He'd only ever killed monsters. But the truth is, he sighted, just like he'd practiced. Took a deep breath, like he'd practiced. Then fired, like he'd practiced.

Two in the body, one in the head, as Ferris fell.

The gunshots tore through the alleyway.

<<You wanted him to do that?>> Ellis said.

<<Of course not.>> Daniel sent back, watching Ferris' body spasm one last time and then go still. Hearing the man's heartbeat fade and then stop.

Ellis spoke like a whisper from the back of his conscience. <<Lie.>>