Shadows of The Night
Chapter 9: Shadows of The Night
The door to the shop opened again and Taylor was flailing her limbs as Dean manhandled both the older woman and Karl inside. “I have to check on the pastries! I sold my soul to the Devil in exchange for the recipe for that chocolate pastry.”
Dean smirked, “I wouldn’t joke about that. Around here, that kinda shit happens all the time.”
Karl froze as he took in the devastation on the faces of Ben and his daughter. He slowly thawed as Dean explained all that had transpired that morning and the plan to watch over Cody. “This whole thing is Koyaanisqatsi,” Karl sighed. “Newyddion drwg.”
“I recognised about three English words in that whole sentence,” Taylor volunteered.
Karl blushed. “Sorry. Koyaanisqatsi is actually a word. It is Hopi-Indian for crazy life, or life out of balance. And the last bit was me saying, ‘bad news’ in Welsh.” Moving with muscle memory, he ran to the computer and starting typing away on it, drawing everyone’s surprised eyes until he triumphantly crowed, “Got it!”
“Got what?” Ben asked, moving to stand behind Karl.
“Figures that all secret organisations are the same. Cameras set up outside. Now we can monitor who goes in and, more importantly, who comes out with Cody. I set up an alert to go off when someone with his specs leaves the building.”
Sally threw her arms around Karl. “You’re brilliant!”
Ben pointed to the computer. “How did you know that?”
“I’m good with computers,” Karl stared resolutely at the monitor. “Always have been.”
“You’re fucking awesome with computers; that’s what you are, “Dean clapped him on the back.
“I’m still confused about one thing, “ Taylor raised her hand as though waiting to be chosen by a teacher. “I’ve heard Karl mention Torchwood before. He said they don’t let their agents go with making them take some amnesia pill thingy and the only reason he was able to fight it off was because he let clues for himself that they didn’t know about it. But Dean said you threatened Patrick by saying you used to work for Torchwood.”
Ben ignored Taylor in favour of staring at Karl. “You worked for Torchwood?”
“Three,” Karl said immediately. “I, um, worked for Torchwood Three… in Cardiff.”
“Still confused,” Taylor pointed to herself.
“I begged them,” Ben’s face was cast with a shadow. “I’d been there too long. I would have lost too much. Most of Cody’s life was while I was in Torchwood and I needed to be able to remember my own son. They hated it, but agreed.”
“Torchwood?” Dean interrupted. “Isn’t that alien crap?”
Ben smiled slightly, “Yes it is.”
“But aliens aren’t real.”
Sally gaped at the older girl. “You can believe in demons but not aliens?”
“I’ve seen demons,” Dean countered.
Ben held up a hand. “You know the fat lady who buys a different travel book each Tuesday?”
Dean nodded, then at Ben’s look, she cried out, “No way!”
“From the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius.”
“You are making that up,” Dean accused.
“No, he’s not,” Karl added.
Sally nodded. “We handled her paperwork. We have copies.”
Dean shook her head. “Okay, whatever. Back to the Cody situation. So now we can check up on him and visit him, what do we do now?”
Ben took a deep breath. “We try to get things back to normal or what passes for that mythical condition around here. We bide our time and if we notice anything amiss, we step in immediately.”
The others nodded their assent.
“I wish we could do more,” Taylor said.
“So do I,” Ben sighed. “But we have to be stealthy about this or they’ll become suspicious and we may not be able to visit Cody at all.”
“Got it, we’re running with the shadows of the night,” Taylor said in a conspiring whisper.
“Baby take my hand, it’ll be all right,” Sally replied on autopilot.
The two girls turned to Dean who sighed and mumbled, “Surrender all your dreams to me tonight; they’ll come true in the end, are we done here?”
Sally patted Dean’s arm. “We’ll make you a Madison yet, Dean Kemp. Taylor’s already on her way and Karl, you seem quite at home here too.”
Karl caught the suggestion in the girl’s voice and decided to ignore it.
The door to the shop opened again and Taylor was flailing her limbs as Dean manhandled both the older woman and Karl inside. “I have to check on the pastries! I sold my soul to the Devil in exchange for the recipe for that chocolate pastry.”
Dean smirked, “I wouldn’t joke about that. Around here, that kinda shit happens all the time.”
Karl froze as he took in the devastation on the faces of Ben and his daughter. He slowly thawed as Dean explained all that had transpired that morning and the plan to watch over Cody. “This whole thing is Koyaanisqatsi,” Karl sighed. “Newyddion drwg.”
“I recognised about three English words in that whole sentence,” Taylor volunteered.
Karl blushed. “Sorry. Koyaanisqatsi is actually a word. It is Hopi-Indian for crazy life, or life out of balance. And the last bit was me saying, ‘bad news’ in Welsh.” Moving with muscle memory, he ran to the computer and starting typing away on it, drawing everyone’s surprised eyes until he triumphantly crowed, “Got it!”
“Got what?” Ben asked, moving to stand behind Karl.
“Figures that all secret organisations are the same. Cameras set up outside. Now we can monitor who goes in and, more importantly, who comes out with Cody. I set up an alert to go off when someone with his specs leaves the building.”
Sally threw her arms around Karl. “You’re brilliant!”
Ben pointed to the computer. “How did you know that?”
“I’m good with computers,” Karl stared resolutely at the monitor. “Always have been.”
“You’re fucking awesome with computers; that’s what you are, “Dean clapped him on the back.
“I’m still confused about one thing, “ Taylor raised her hand as though waiting to be chosen by a teacher. “I’ve heard Karl mention Torchwood before. He said they don’t let their agents go with making them take some amnesia pill thingy and the only reason he was able to fight it off was because he let clues for himself that they didn’t know about it. But Dean said you threatened Patrick by saying you used to work for Torchwood.”
Ben ignored Taylor in favour of staring at Karl. “You worked for Torchwood?”
“Three,” Karl said immediately. “I, um, worked for Torchwood Three… in Cardiff.”
“Still confused,” Taylor pointed to herself.
“I begged them,” Ben’s face was cast with a shadow. “I’d been there too long. I would have lost too much. Most of Cody’s life was while I was in Torchwood and I needed to be able to remember my own son. They hated it, but agreed.”
“Torchwood?” Dean interrupted. “Isn’t that alien crap?”
Ben smiled slightly, “Yes it is.”
“But aliens aren’t real.”
Sally gaped at the older girl. “You can believe in demons but not aliens?”
“I’ve seen demons,” Dean countered.
Ben held up a hand. “You know the fat lady who buys a different travel book each Tuesday?”
Dean nodded, then at Ben’s look, she cried out, “No way!”
“From the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius.”
“You are making that up,” Dean accused.
“No, he’s not,” Karl added.
Sally nodded. “We handled her paperwork. We have copies.”
Dean shook her head. “Okay, whatever. Back to the Cody situation. So now we can check up on him and visit him, what do we do now?”
Ben took a deep breath. “We try to get things back to normal or what passes for that mythical condition around here. We bide our time and if we notice anything amiss, we step in immediately.”
The others nodded their assent.
“I wish we could do more,” Taylor said.
“So do I,” Ben sighed. “But we have to be stealthy about this or they’ll become suspicious and we may not be able to visit Cody at all.”
“Got it, we’re running with the shadows of the night,” Taylor said in a conspiring whisper.
“Baby take my hand, it’ll be all right,” Sally replied on autopilot.
The two girls turned to Dean who sighed and mumbled, “Surrender all your dreams to me tonight; they’ll come true in the end, are we done here?”
Sally patted Dean’s arm. “We’ll make you a Madison yet, Dean Kemp. Taylor’s already on her way and Karl, you seem quite at home here too.”
Karl caught the suggestion in the girl’s voice and decided to ignore it.