Intrigued, Dust nodded for him to start.
“You’ve not been out in the real world for some time. And, before you say it, a dump like Low Tracks is not the real world.” Dick leaned forward on his desk. “The common man hates you, Dust, because they don’t understand you. And because you’re linked with a great threat, to them and to this nation.”
“The Dixie Problem.”
Dick nodded. “The Dixie Problem; the dark things out there. People are simple, Dustin. They think it’s a matter of manpower, that the Dixie Problem should be resolved by now. With the slaves freed and the Indians mollified, they can’t see why a great nation like America can’t just sweep the place clean. Politically, we can’t explain that there are forces at work almost too strong for us to cope with. Especially when they are so-called Gods we’re supposed to be One Nation, Under God…”
Religion, Dust thought, always seemed to cause more problems than it solved.
“The President is taking serious heat for all of this; the Democrats are making a big deal of matters they don’t understand. So we can’t let it be widely known, on top of everything else, that you’re working with us. Which is why it’s so frustrating when you reveal yourself publicly and ‘kill’ people.”
Dust felt a hot anger rise in him. “I haven’t killed anyone, Dick, not for a long time. And certainly never someone who didn’t deserve it,” he said.
Dick laughed. “That’s not what people get told. You think the rumours have you peacefully handing people in? No. You’re as vicious as any cultist in the myth. And the myth is all that people know, Dustin. It’s the myth people turn to whenever you appear and they will turn to it again if they find out you work with the Government.”
Outside, people walked by Dick’s office. Dust could hear them talking, chatting about their families. It was some of the eggheads, off to do more experiments; another day had begun in the Solution. Dust never really thought about the wider world, what lay outside this facility, except when he was sent on a mission or was in need of a little freedom. Perhaps he hadn’t wanted to, hadn’t wanted to face what Dick had just told him; it was hard to accept he was seen as a monster.
“So what’s my punishment?” Dick asked, finding that he wasn’t a fan of honesty.
“I’m sending you out on a mission.”
Dust blinked. He leaned forward, his wanderlust ignited. “Now I could have sworn you just said you’re sending me out on a mission.”
Dick nodded. “That’s because I did.”
Licking his lips, Dust asked “What’s the angle?”
He ignored Dust and picked some papers up from his desk, looked at them as though he hadn’t memorised the contents. “Two days ago, Senator Chalmer’s daughter was travelling through the Badlands with an escort even I would be impressed with; fifty hardened soldiers, each on horseback. They have not been seen since. We’ve tried to get reports from her likely last location but someone keeps taking down telegraph poles in the area; the TTC have repaired the line twice in the last week. It would seem, from that and other evidence, that we have a cult active in the area between a town called Crucifix and the Colorado River.”
Dust moved the shirt away from his ear, inspected it. Already the wound had mostly healed but it’d be good to clear away the remaining blood; his dead blood could get quite itchy against his skin. He began to dab at his ear with another part of his shirt
“Fifty soldiers?” he asked.
Dick nodded. “Fifty veterans.”
That was interesting. Dust blew air out through his lips. “And I’m to go in and find her? This Senator’s daughter?”
“Yes. You’ll leave today. And you won’t return until you’ve found her, dead or alive.”
Dust examined Dick for a while. There was definitely something more to all of this. “Alright then. Do I get to see a photo of her?”
Dick shuffled the papers and then rested them again on the desk. “There’s a file with photos and biographical information waiting for you with the horse. Read it on your journey. You’ll take a Solution horse and full tactical equipment with you. I presume I don’t need to tell you that time is of the essence and that we want the girl back alive if possible.”
Dust stopped dabbing at his ear. He touched the wound with his fingertips and examined them; no more blood, no pain from the touch. He was healed, clean, though he’d always be lopsided from now on. Somehow that didn’t seem like enough punishment though. Not from old Dick.
“So what aren’t you telling me?”
The corners of Dick’s mouth twitched. “What makes you think I’m not telling you something?”
“Anything too good to be true usually is.”
Dick stood and gestured for Dust to stand as well. Dust did so.
“Firstly,” Dick continued, walking back to his window, “I’m sending you out because we know what the cult want. And that indicates their strength.”
“What’re they after?” Dust asked, strolling over to stand beside Dick.
“They want the Eye of Zacatecas.”
Dust couldn’t help but laugh. “And I want to be President one day. The Government’ll never let them get hold of that!”
Dick turned to Dust, arched an eyebrow. “Won’t they? Senator Chalmers is quite influential in Washington. I wouldn’t be surprised if he started making serious inquiries about handing the Eye over.”
Suddenly this mission took on more importance; the Eye of Zacatecas was an incredibly powerful Mayan artefact, one that most people would think was harmless if they only knew of it from the legends. Dust knew it could be used for many strange magical operations on the soul. If they know of it, they probably know how to use it… so handing it over would be like giving TNT to drunken outlaws.
“Then why not scale a full search party?”
“I wish we could,” Dick sighed. “But the cult have said they’ll kill her if they see a large incursion into the Badlands. So we’re sending you. They’ll not connect you to the Solution despite your worst efforts.”
Dust paused, reflected on that. “Which God do the cult follow?” he asked.
“That Which Sins.”
Dust grunted. That Which Sins was the easiest God in the Triangle to cope with.
“The second reason I’m sending you out on this mission is because you’ve been too active in the area recently; people might start to tie you with the Solution, seeing as you’ll have been spotted in almost every damn drinking establishment within a twenty mile radius. Part of your value, as with this mission, is the deniability you give our Government so it’ll be good for you, and for us, if you’re seen in the Badlands.”
He couldn’t argue with that. But there was definitely something yet to come. “And? What’s the sting in the tail here?”
“’The sting in the tail’? Well, you’re going to have a partner in this mission.”
“Partner?” Dust asked cautiously.
“Yes, you’re going to take an agent out into the field with you. Someone who’s been raring to go for quite some time, particularly with you.”
He didn’t like where this was going, could see the punchline hurtling toward him like a pack of bison. “Who?”
“The Naismith kid.”
“I wasn’t that bad, surely?”
Dick grinned, a cruel and feline grin. “There are always consequences, Dustin.”
Dust searched Dick’s face to see whether he was joking. He wasn’t; he actually meant to send him out into the Badlands with the Naismith kid. “You son of a bitch.”
