The Master of Sorrow
Chapter Three
The classic yellow-painted Jaguar rolled up to the curb in front of SHUSH Headquarters in Saint Canard’s Federal District. Jacob stepped out of his car and onto the sidewalk. For a moment he just stood there and took in the sight. The wide stairway to the entrance and the tall, ornate pillars loomed overhead and sent a strange shiver down his spine. He never thought he would return to this place again. This place that he had once found more familiar than his own home. SHUSH used to be his welcomed sanctuary. But now it seemed to fill him with a complex combination of excitement and dread.
But Jacob was there with specific purpose. He knew that he would find his enemy here, within the confines that were once his domain. First, he would pay a little visit to an old friend of his whom he hadn’t seen in decades. Jacob took in a deep breath, pulling his shoulders back and standing tall, and made his way up the stairs to the front door.
The SHUSH lobby was a bustle of activity between visitors, fifth grade classes on a field trip, and agents carrying out their business. And despite keeping his eyes directed forward, Jacob could feel the curious stares of other SHUSH employees on him. Jacob Mallard was a legend of the institution. Stories of his adventures were told to new agents during their training, and old photos of the decorated SHUSH agent were the only images that had survived since his disappearance years ago. The awe resonating throughout the vast lobby made Jacob smile inwardly to himself.
He approached the visitor’s desk and waited for the busy receptionist to look up and catch his eye. She was a young one, probably no more than twenty-five. This would explain why she didn’t seem to recognize the prominent figure on front of her when she looked up.
“Yes, sir?” she asked in a rigidly professional voice. “How can I help you?”
“I believe you can, young lady,” Jacob said. He leaned forward and gave her his notorious suave smile that was known to melt any woman’s heart. “I’m here to see Director Hooter.”
Her brow furrowed. This was an uncommon request, and even she had yet to meet the Director herself. “Oh? I’m sorry, sir. But no one sees the Director unless—“
“I’m an old friend of his,” Jacob cut her off coolly.
“Oh. Um…okay,” she replied skeptically. She picked up a pen. “And your name?”
“Mallard,” he answered, and couldn’t help but run his fingers through the slicked back feathers on his head. “Jacob Mallard.”
The receptionist scribbled down his name, then got up from her seat to disappear into the back. Jacob waited patiently, knowing that the young girl was asking her superiors whether she should have him escorted out or grant him access. In the meantime, he took in his surroundings, immediately noticing how much SHUSH has changed and stayed the same since he had last stepped foot inside nearly two decades ago. Part of him felt saddened, realizing how much he had missed during his absence. SHUSH had possessed the majority of his adult life and had sometimes been more his home than anywhere else. It was like returning home to a family that had moved on without him.
He was jerked out of his reverie when the thick security door leading to the back hallways opened. A young agent held the door open. “Sir? You can come back.”
Jacob followed him inside, a bit perturbed that he needed an escort. Another sign that things were no longer the same. They came to a stop in front of a closed office door. The placard beside the door read “John Gander Hooter: Director.”
The agent nodded to him. “You can go on in.”
Jacob waited for the young agent to leave before making his grand entrance. He took a deep breath to steady himself, surprised that he was so nervous to see his old friend again. Would John even remember him? Did SHUSH ever find out what had caused his disappearance? There was only one way for him to find out.
The door to the Director’s grand office opened silently. Jacob stepped inside, not making a sound so that he could get a glimpse at the aged goose sitting behind the large desk. Jacob smirked at the sight of his friend buried in paperwork. It had always been a fitting place for John even in his younger years. While Jacob had always been itching to get out I the field and perform heroic agent duties. John had always been content to stay in the office, paying attention to every detail on paper.
And his hearing must be fading, because he had yet to acknowledge the former agent’s presence.
“Well, well. Director Hooter. I must admit that I am not surprised to see you in here, buried in paperwork.”
J. Gander looked up. His tiny eyes blinked a few times and left him in a wide-eyed stare. It was as if he was seeing a ghost, and the normally articulate SHUSH Director was at a loss for words. For a moment, there was a flashback to when he had last seen his best friend. The morning he left on a bogus mission from which he never returned. Until now.
“Jacob? It can’t be…” J. Gander stepped down from his chair and rounded his desk, cautiously approaching him. There was still a look of pure bewilderment.
But Jacob flashed a boyish grin--an old trademark of his. “Careful, John. Don’t have a heart attack on me now.”
It was then that J. Gander knew that it was his friend standing in front of him. “Bless the Saints, Jacob! You’re alive!” He couldn’t help but give him a gentlemanly embrace. “I can’t believe it!”
“Well, you’d best believe it, John,” Jacob said, accompanied by a proud chuckle. “You should know that it takes a lot to get rid of one of SHUSH’s legends.”
J. Gander gave a subtle smirk. Jacob’s ego was still intact and as big as ever. “But where have you been hiding out all of these years?”
Jacob furrowed his brows. He couldn’t tell him the truth. Not yet. So he stepped carefully around his answer. “I was…indisposed against my will. I’m not at liberty to disclose everything at this point, John. But I was unable to return until now. Believe me, I would have been back sooner to….”
He trailed off, but the sentence didn’t need to be finished for J. Gander to know what Jacob had wanted to say. The SHUSH Director knew about the unfortunate circumstances of Jacob’s family. Still, it felt as if something needed to be said.
“Jacob. I’m so sorry about….” J. Gander began cautiously. “I’m truly sorry about your family. About Gail.”
There seemed to be no reaction from Jacob’s stoic face. His expression was a blank one in response to J. Gander’s remark. Over the past two decades, he had become numb on the outside to his emotions of despair and loneliness. It had become his cover to hide the turmoil still felt inside. And it was necessary to seek his revenge.
“As am I, John,” Jacob replied somberly, but that was all he said on the matter. The topic was one which he preferred not to revisit with someone else, and he was quick to dodge it. “But I am pleased to see SHUSH is still up and running with you at the helm. I will admit that I’m not surprised.”
“Yes, well, you were always the action-hungry agent, Jacob. Not me. I feel I have found my place at SHUSH.” J. Gander returned to his desk chair and eyed him curiously. “You are technically still on SHUSH’s roster, Jacob. I trust you are looking to rejoin the ranks? That is, you believe yourself not to be too rusty.” He cast a glance to the cane in Jacob’s left hand.
Jacob gave a deep chuckle. “I assure you, old friend, that my skills are as sharp as ever. And I would be humbled to serve under you at SHUSH.”
The truth of the matter was that Jacob had no intention of legitimately rejoining SHUSH. The real reason for his return to his organization was to get as close to his enemy as possible. For he knew that Jake Mallard was now an agent, and Jacob would need to get as close as possible to finally reap his revenge upon his greatest enemy.
“Wonderful!” J. Gander explained. He looked at Jacob with a gentle smile, a sparkle in his eyes. “You were always an excellent agent, Jacob. One of the best in the history of SHUSH. I’m elated not only to see you still alive and well, but also to have you back here.” He paused for a moment and then piped up, “And to begin, I’d like you to meet my Chief Agent.” He pressed the button of the intercom on his desk. “Miss Maybill, please summon the Chief Agent to my office.” J. Gander looked back to his old comrade. “He is only acting in the position while Chief Agent Gryzlikoff is on an extended assignment in Moscow.”
“Surely you don’t believe that I need to be babysat by a superior agent, John,” Jacob said, having no real interest in meeting the Chief Agent.
“Just the formalities, Jacob. Besides, you have been out of SHUSH for many years. Perhaps you can pick up a few things from him in order to get a handle on how things operate in the present as opposed in the past.”
“I don’t need a tutor,” Jacob insisted, his ego deflating ever so slightly and feeling insulted.
J. Gander began to say something else but he stopped and looked past Jacob to someone who had just appeared in the doorway. “Ah, here we are. Do come in. Jacob, allow me to introduce you to Jake Mallard, my acting Chief Agent.”
Jacob was staring over his shoulder at the well-suited agent in the doorway. Their cold, calculating eyes met, and for that instant it seemed as if everything else around them had disappeared. Jacob could see the wicked, callousness within his double’s eyes. Those heartless green irises were the last thing Jacob remembered seeing that fateful night when he almost lost his life. Those eyes have haunted his dreams every night since. And as Jake slowly, calmly, stepped inside, he did not break his gaze for an instant. Jacob’s cold, dead black eyes bore into him. They were full of rage and hatred. They sought cold-blooded revenge.
The two mallards regarded one another silently for a moment, keeping a calm exterior as to not let J. Gander know of their eternal rivalry.
“I suppose I needn’t point out the physical similarities, not to mention the shared name,” J. Gander’s voice interrupted the stare-down the two mallards were giving one another. “I don’t suppose the two of you are somehow related…?” he questioned carefully. He recalled Jacob having a brother at one time.
“No,” came Jacob’s sharp reply, not about to inform J. Gander that they were, in fact, one in the same mallard. He kept his eyes locked on Jake. It took every ounce of self control not to lunge and clamp his hands mercilessly around his neck right there in J. Gander’s office. “It is a coincidence indeed…”
“Well then! Agent Mallard, this is Jacob Mallard. He is one of my oldest and dearest friends, and quite the SHUSH legend,” J. Gander introduced. “After an unexpected hiatus, he is looking to rejoining the organization. Effective as soon as possible. I trust you can take some time from your busy afternoon to acquaint him with the changes SHUSH has gone through over the past two decades?”
Jake clenched his jaw together and he suppressed a low growl in his throat. He wanted to scream right then. Jacob Mallard was supposed to be dead! He remembered shooting him more than once at point-blank range and then leaving him for dead. That had been nearly twenty years ago.
But he turned back to his boss and gave a solemn nod. “Yes, sir. I’d be happy to…”
“Wonderful! Jacob, come by and see me before the end of the day and we will make all of the proper arrangements,” J. Gander said and dismissed them with a wave of his hand. He returned to the work on his desk, a pleasant smile on his small bill for the first time in a long while.
“This way, Mr. Mallard…” Jake rumbled lowly and led him out of the Director’s office.
As the two identical mallards walked down the hall, neither said a word to one another nor did they cast a glance. They stayed in step, side-by-side, lest one mallard fall behind and be in the perfect position to stab the other in the back. They received many curious stares from other SHUSH personnel as they passed. Some of the older agents were taken aback to see the famed Jacob Mallard in the flesh. Others rubbed their eyes to be sure that they were not seeing double.
They arrived at Jake’s office. He opened the door and stepped inside, Jacob right behind him. The door slammed shut, and Jake spun around with narrowed, enraged eyes.
“You?!” he exclaimed, now able to freely express the reality of the situation.
“Surprise,” Jacob said with a snide smile.
“How is this possible? I left you for dead!” Jake roared, slamming his palms down on the desk that he stood behind.
“So you assumed. You should have done your homework, friend. Jacob Mallard is not so easily snuffed out.”
“It would appear so,” Jake scoffed bitterly. “If I would have known, I would have shot you in the head.”
“Ah, but you didn’t,” Jacob reminded him with a triumphant smile on his bill. He looked around the office, taking in every meticulous detail. Jake Mallard was a neat-freak, perhaps obsessive-compulsive. It was the complete opposite of Jacob, who preferred a less than organized surrounding. “Nice little place you’ve made for yourself here at SHUSH. Thought it was safest for you to hide behind a badge?”
Jake laughed, a wicked grin plastered on his face. “Hide? I have nothing to hide from here in your precious ‘Normalverse.’”
“That is where you are mistaken, old friend,” Jacob rumbled in a low, eerie voice. He stared forward with his dark, vengeful eyes. Through his eyes one could see Jacob Mallard’s soul, empty and hollow. And bent on revenge. “For now I have returned, and the tables have turned. While you had hunted me in the past, now I am hunting you. And you will have nowhere to hide. Not even behind the shield of SHUSH.” He leaned forward against his cane. “I am going to kill you.”
Jake raised a brow, and rather than feeling intimidated, he looked rather amused. “Is that a threat?”
“No, it’s a promise,” he corrected. Then he smiled. “And Jacob Mallard never breaks a promise. You destroyed my life. You killed my family. And I intend to repay the favor, no matter the cost.”
“Ah, ah, ah, ah! Let’s not be hasty,” Jake said with a disapprovingly wag of his finger. “I never laid a hand on your family. I didn’t have to. You could have remained dead and allowed your body to be found, giving everyone the impression that you died in the line of duty. But no, you decided to survive and remain missing, giving your precious Gail the impression that you deserted them.” He paused with a thoughtful expression. “In fact, I remember reading the article in the newspaper the day after she overdosed. No need to fret--they used a beautiful photograph.” A devilish smile spread across his bill. “Such a shame. She really was a charming young creature.”
The hatred boiled over within Jacob Mallard then. His eyes flashed, and he let out an animalistic roar as he suddenly leapt forward. Jake’s eyes went wide as his enemy sailed over the desk and pummeled into him. Both mallards tumbled to the floor and proceeded to lash out at one another.
Out in the hallway, J. Gander had been walking with his secretary and stopped in front of Jake’s closed office door. The ruckus and yelling of swear words coming from inside didn’t seem to reach his ears.
“Now bring me Jacob Mallard’s file from the archives. I want his profile to be re-established as soon as possible. I cannot express how excited I am to have him back in SHUSH ranks,” J. Gander instructed. The secretary nodded and hurried on her way. J. Gander turned to the closed door and knocked. “Ah , Agent Mallard? Jacob?” he called before opening the door and stepping inside.
Jacob was casually leaning against the wall while Jake calmly sat behind his desk. However, the room was in complete disarray from the tussle. They managed to fool the Director.
“Ah, I trust you two gentlemen had a chance to converse,” J. Gander said with enthusiasm. Then his eyes traveled around the office, and his brows furrowed in concern. “My, Agent Mallard. Doing a bit of redecorating?”
“I guess you could say that,” Jake replied calmly as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.
“Well, if you two gentleman are finished, Jacob?” he looked towards him. “I have a few more people I would like to introduce you to, and then we will begin processing your credentials. Come with me.”
Jacob let J. Gander exit the office in front of him so that he may turn back toward his double. He raised his cane and pointed it in his direction. “This is far from over, my friend. In fact, it is just beginning.” He turned and left, slamming the door behind him.
Jake stared at the door for a long moment, his hands steepled in front of him. His green eyes narrowed and the gears in his head were quickly going into overdrive. Jacob Mallard’s return was certainly unexpected, and put it a whole new twist in his every day life. Now he would have to watch his back and constantly wonder what plans he was concocting. One thing the two mallards shared was determination. A drive to achieve what they wanted, whether is be recognition or revenge. And Jake knew that Jacob Mallard’s drive to kill him was not to be reckoned with.
He knew he would have to play his cards right against Jacob. For Jake, it was a matter of life and death. And, fortunately, he knew exactly which cards he needed in his hand to match Jacob.