Order of Magnitude

XXX. The Best Laid Plans

      Chandra was getting worried; she hadn't seen Turner in a while, and the last time she did, he was clinging to life on a piece of a maple leaf. It didn't even seem like she was away for long. But in that time, her friend was missing and the blood-stained leaf remained. Did he get up and merge into the group? Was it even safe for him to be up and about? She could kick him for making her worry like this.

      "Have you found him yet?" Scarlet asked when she came back from the crowd.

      "No, you?"

      "Obviously not."

      "It's not like he would leave without telling us, right?"

      "Who knows? A few people think that they saw him being led away, but they weren't sure."

      Out of nowhere, Jean ran up to the two ladies. "Hey," he said a bit out of breath.

      "Hello, Jean," Scarlet said a bit testily.

      "Have you seen Turner?" Chandra blurted out.

      "Actually, that's what I'm here for," he started. "Turner's been asking for you. He's around behind the podium."

      "Why doesn't he just come see us?"

      "Nobody can know he's here right now. Especially my brother."

      Chandra paled. "You mean..."

      "I mean that you should meet up with him; I'm going to talk to Jacques, try to get him to listen to reason."

      "Yeah, good luck with that," Scarlet scoffed, and left with Chandra to the back of the podium. They didn't have to go far to find Turner, broken and bloody, propped up against a blade of grass.

      "Turner!" Chandra called. "What happened to you?"

      "Jacques found out about our plans. He had me worked over. I would be dead right now if Jean hadn't come along."

      "Somebody must have talked."

      "Yeah, Hagen."

      "Hagen?" Chandra asked, completely scandalized. "Are you sure?"

      "Pretty sure," Turner chuckled. "He's the one who did this to me."

      "I'm so sorry..."

      "Not your fault. But the fact of the matter is we no longer have the cover of anonymity anymore. Jacques knows about what's going on with us. He even knows that you two are in on it."

      Scarlet rubbed her neck nervously. "Then why didn't we get the same treatment that you did?"

      "I think his idea was to make an example of me. Squash any and all dissidence in one stroke."

      "Sad to say, it probably would have worked."

      Turner chuckled again. "Yeah, I have to agree. Here's the situation, though. We are almost out of time; we need to do something now before it's too late."

      "What can we do?" Chandra asked.

      "Jean is the key right now. He's going to talk to Jacques. Maybe stop this once and for all. That's the best play we have. If anybody can do this, it's Jean. He's Jacques' brother for crying out loud."

      "And if it doesn't work."

      "He needs Jean, it'll work."

      "But it might not," Scarlet raised her eyebrows. "We should be prepared anyway."

      "I know," Turner stood up. "We'll keep an eye on things. If it looks bad, I'll run in there and face the crowd. Once they see what Jacques is capable of, they might turn on him. Right now, all we can do is hope that it doesn't come to that."

      Meanwhile, at the front of the podium, Jean was in the middle of talking to his brother. There were still a lot of preparations to be made before the attack, but Jacques was more than happy to have a private chat with his kin.

      "Listen, Jacques," Jean explained. "I saw what happened to Turner. I think this might be going too far."

      Jacques shook his head. "You can never go too far in the name of freedom," he replied. "Think not of us, but for future generations that will grow up in a better world."

      "And we can only achieve that through killing our friends?"

      A quick smile. "Ten minutes ago you were on board. Now you're not. What changed?" He looked around at the crowd. "All of these people think we can make a difference. Turner didn't see it that way, and I had to get a little rough on him. Should that change the course of liberty?"

      Jean took a second. "I want to believe you, I really do, but this is crazy. We're on the edge of becoming historical monsters. What do you plan to achieve?"

      "Revolution. Things can't go on the way they have been. Not anymore."

      "Well, you're going to have to find some other way, then. I'm out, I'm not doing it. I refuse to take part in this anymore." Jean turned his back on his brother.

      "You are the key figure," Jacques frowned. "You can't walk out."

      "Sorry, but I made my decision."

      "Is that so?"

      "Yeah."

      Jacques sighed. "You're breaking my heart, little brother. We were a team; we have been since we were kids." The leader drove a metal pin through Jean's heart. "But nothing will stand in the way of what I'm accomplishing here. Nothing!" He pulled the pin out and sheathed it.

      Jean only had time to gasp before crumpling into a heap on the wooden slat of the podium. Jacques removed the match head launcher from his dead brother's back and kicked the corpse away from him. With a scowl, he walked back to the mass of parvs that were diligently working to make this world a better place. A sigh escaped from his lips, and he wrapped the launcher around his shoulders. His destiny awaited.

      As if on cue, the sound of a deafening roar came from outside of the podium. The Prime Minister had finally arrived.