Emo Jack, Ch. 1

It was hard to see through the crowd. People bustled back and forth across the square, bags in hand, wallets emptied. Christmas was the worst time of the year for Jack to work. There were always crowds everywhere, and most of the time they just got in the way.

Jack stubbed out his cigarette on the concrete chimney next to him. Looking down on the busy square, the top of the lit Christmas tree barely reached as tall as the roof Jack knelt on. The multi-hued glow from the tree glared on his eyes, and he adjusted his shades to compensate. He continued to scan the square visually for long moments, before he finally gave up and switched to his Inner Senses. Closing his eyes, he could now see the square in front of his mind's eye, his Inner Eye. Each of the shoppers and other pedestrians milling, crossing, and generally cluttering up the square below him was a dim grey ghost of a glow in his mind now. The dim glow indicated they were not the one he was looking for. He was attuned to the target.

"Jack?" came a soft voice in his ear. The subdermal implant vibrated the bones directly connected to his eardrum and made sure he and he alone could hear the voice. It was a soft, sugary female voice, but there was a hint of steel in it that perhaps only he could recognize. "Any sign yet?"

Jack whispered, knowing the mic in his jaw would send his voice just as clearly to the speaker. "Not yet, Ser, keep your panties on." Jack lit another smoke and smiled as he continued scanning the town square below with his Inner Eye.

"You should be so lucky to even know if I'm wearing any at all," came Serenity's voice in his ear, the hint of steel a bit stronger but still softened, as it always was with him. "Quit toking and pay attention to the target zone, Jack."

Still smiling, Jack took a long drag from his cigarette and said nothing. He'd worked with Serenity long enough to know exactly which buttons to push to annoy her without actually getting her angry at him. His knees were beginning to hurt from kneeling behind the low wall that went round the roof, but he remained still, in position, watching and waiting. Jack was a lot of things, most of them disreputable, but he was always good at his job.

Finally, after what seemed like forever and a day, there was a soft crimson glow in his mind's Eye, moving slowly and cautiously across the square. The color of the glow told Jack this was who he'd been waiting for, the and dim strength of it showed that the target was trying hard to conceal himself. Jack smiled wider. The target was an extrapath, just like Jack was, but nowhere near Jack's strength and skill. The target may as well have been jumping up and down, screaming 'here I am' as far as Jack's senses were concerned.

"Ser, he's there. By the tree. He's trying to Conceal but I've got him. I'm sending his image now." Jack concentrated on the link between him and his partner, sending her a mental image of where the target was.

There was a very brief pause, then Serenity's voice came back to him, "Got it."

Two heartbeats later, the crowd round the tree scattered, screams and wails of panic filling the yuletide decked square. There was a dead body at the foot of the huge Christmas tree, a small hole spouting blood and oozing other fluid where his left eye used to be. Jack smiled, stubbed out his smoke, and went to meet Serenity for their customary after-job coffee.