Born of starlight and shadows

~Part twelve: Carter~

It is done, Carter thought, feeling stunned.

How was it over so quickly? After all the speculations he'd heard about the girl's power, no more than a few mere minutes were needed to subdue her!

Now both her and the other girl, other Star Child she'd been found with, both were lying unconscious. They were completely at the mercy of those above him now, he was afraid.

And he was partly ashamed for thinking such thoughts, but he was relieved he was not the one carrying out the terrible deed. No, he had the luxury of simply issuing all the orders and watching them being followed.

He watched without really seeing as the three men who'd had the unlucky responsibility of kidnapping both of them-a feat, he was sorry to admit, that was made easy through the plentiful experience those above him had with Star Children, and, more importantly, the power they possessed-climbed into the van.

One of them sat directly next to him. Carter recognized him at once, though it had been some time since he'd seen the man in person.

His name, as Carter was well aware, was Patrick Jones. He'd been the first one to locate the two Star Children, and, the one who had, quite recently, shared the information with his superiors.

Carter felt guiltily grateful-he was relieved, in all honesty, relieved for this know, because this meant less time he would have to spend tracking down the pair of them. But guilty nonetheless.

The two of them didn't dare speak to each other, other than a murmured greeting and congratulations for getting another job done. The words that wanted to be exchanged could not be allowed to be, not here.

But, once the dreadfully familiar building came back into view, Patrick whispered, "Keep my daughter out of harm's way, if you are able. Please."

He nodded to show that he had heard, but didn't promise anything.

He couldn't.

He would try, the same way he had tried to help all of the others. But he truly doubted he would be able to succeed.