The Sopaths (10 page)

And there it was, confirmed, directly from a sopath. Nefer had said the same thing that Abner and Bunty had told Dreda at the outset. Abner could see that Dreda was immensely relieved. She had truly killed in self-defense.

And maybe he owed Nefer one, apart from the deal to kill the pedophile. Had she reassured Dreda because she wanted to please him? That seemed likely.

Later in the night Bunty rejoined him in bed. “Interesting sequence as Clark relieved me on watch,” she said. “He was nervous, and Nefer asked him what he wanted. She’s one sharp observer of people. He was mighty interested just where the man had put what. ‘He put his hard penis in there,’ she told him, showing her vagina and pointing. ‘It hurt, some. Then I stabbed him to death. The way Dreda did with her brother.’ That evidently satisfied Clark’s guilty curiosity.”

“From the horse’s mouth, again,” Abner said.

“She’s a sopath, but there are things to appreciate about her.”

“She’s trying to ingratiate herself with our family.”

“And succeeding,” Bunty said. “I don’t like any of this business, but we do need her for our dirty work.”

“We do need her,” he agreed morosely.

“You won’t have to have sex with her, Abner. She’s a sopath; the only way she knows to get the real appreciation of a man is sexual. That’s immediate and powerful. If you could persuade her that you liked or respected her in some other manner, I think she’d be satisfied.”

“What other manner?”

“I don’t know. I think we need to study her. We are already learning things we never discovered with our own sopaths. Maybe if we understood their positive qualities as well as their negative ones, we’d be better able to deal with them.”

“You are remarkably tolerant.”

“Just practical. We need to handle the sopath challenge, and ignorance won’t help.”

“You are surely right. You’re more objective than I am. I love you.”

She looked at him archly. “Are you just trying to get into my pants?”

He realized with surprise that he was turned on. “That too.”

“Then take it all,” she said, clasping him.

*

The item was in the morning newspaper. A criminal drug dealer, a known pedophile, had been stabbed to death by a person unknown. The conjecture was that one of his victims had done it. It was scant on detail, probably deliberately, so as to keep the likely sopath aspect out of the news.

The counter-message had been delivered: the criminal element would not be tolerated in this neighborhood. That assassination would be met by assassination. It was hardball. Would that be effective? Abner was gambling his reputation with Pariah that it would be, but only time would tell.

Meanwhile they had Nefer as a patient. She seemed somewhat recovered, but not ready to leave on her own power. She wasn’t faking it; she really was weak from blood loss. “Your family will be concerned,” Bunty told her as she fed her some breakfast.

Nefer was surprised. “I guess so.” She was a sopath; she lacked empathy. Her concern of the night had been only to conceal her state from those who would not understand, complicating her life.

“Can you call them?”

“Sure.” Nefer found her cell phone and touched the number. “Mom? I had an accident and couldn’t make it home last night.” She paused. “Yes, I sneaked out. I’m sorry.” Another pause. “I’m at a friend’s house. It’s okay.” Another pause. Then she covered the mouthpiece. “She wants to know where. You’ll have to tell her. Name’s Johna Biggs.” She handed the phone to Bunty.

Bunty picked right up on it. “Mrs. Biggs? I’m Bunty Slate. It seems Nefer came over to see my daughter, but was intercepted by a sopath. She got away, but was stabbed in the arm. We had to take her in. She was unconscious much of the night, but seems to be recovering now. Yes, of course. Here is our address.” She concluded the call and returned the phone to Nefer.

“You’re a good liar,” the girl said admiringly.

“It was as close to the truth as she needs to know. She’s on her way here.” Bunty quirked a smile. “Does this count as fulfilling a get out of jail card?”

“No,” Abner said. “She got injured in the course of doing our dirty job. We still owe her the bail.”

“And you kissed me,” Nefer said. Then she closed her eyes and sank back into sleep.

“She’s right,” Abner said to Bunty. “You
are
a good liar.”

“We do what we have to do. All of our lives would be in jeopardy if word of her part in the assassination got out.”

“Remember,” Bunty cautioned the children. “Her folks don’t know she’s a sopath. You are now officially Nefer’s little friends.”

“Got it,” Dreda agreed.

“I can lie too.” Clark nodded in agreement.

Mrs. Biggs arrived, the woman Abner had seen in the store. She hurried to the girl. “My baby! We were so worried!”

“I was a bad girl,” Nefer confessed. “I snuck out and got in bad trouble.” Then she started crying.

Her mother was immediately comforting. It was clear that Nefer knew how to manage her.

In due course Nefer was packed into her mother’s car and taken home. The family could finally relax.

“But you know, we have crossed the line,” Bunty said. “We knowingly used a sopath to kill a normal.”

Exactly. “We do what we have to do. We are at war.”

And, indeed, so it seemed.

The Pariahs were on full alert for the next few days, but the neighborhood was quiet. Either their watchfulness was effective, or the criminals had not yet tried to strike back. Unless the message had been received, and there would be no further trouble.

Then a bomb exploded, sending a car careening out of control. They studied the site, and concluded that it was a mine that had been buried under a loose section of the pavement, primed to detonate when a car tire pressed it flat.

The war was not over.

“Metal detectors,” Abner said. “We need to spot any more of those things that show up.”

They got the detectors, but two more cars were wrecked before they zeroed in on an unexploded mine. One of the Pariahs knew how to handle it. They deactivated it, dug it up, and stored it in a safe place.

There was a memorial service for Sylvia, attended by more than just Pariahs. She had been a force for good in the neighborhood. Even several policemen attended, and some spoke. It was evident that they were sorry about what happened.

The police chief approached Abner after the service. “Someone will have to take her place,” he said. “You could do it.”

“Me! I’m a family man.”

“Who takes out sopaths. Who doesn’t like criminals. Or so I hear. Well, what you do is your own business. But watch your back. That pedo was part of a larger operation, and they don’t like to be challenged. They use the sopaths as drug runners. Some of them can be bought for just candy. We can’t be everywhere all the time, and now we know how they react to a straightforward complaint. So we won’t try that again. But we’ll support you in our fashion.”

“Thank you,” Abner said tightly.

There seemed to be no alternative. He met with the Pariah members and informally assumed the mantle of their local leader. This meant that newly bereaved sopath survivors would be directed to him, and he would have to try to find assistance for them. It promised to be a headache, but someone had to do it.

They continued to take out sopaths, mostly young ones, ages three and four, who managed to get out but had not yet become wary of candy. It was evident that this was a rising global problem; their neighborhood was typical, not special.

The older sopaths, ages five, six, and seven, were fewer in number, but canny and dangerous. They carried drugs and guns, delivering to that broad market for both. And child prostitution.

Abner took Dreda to visit Nefer at her home, during her recovery. She was confined to her room for health reasons, and was antsy. Her arm was healing without complications. Dreda made a show of hugging her, and Nefer hugged her back. Then Abner talked with Mrs. Biggs while the two children chatted by themselves. After half an hour Abner went to fetch Dreda.

“I have cookies,” Mrs. Biggs said. “This way.”

“I’m tired of cookies,” Nefer said. So Dreda went with the woman, leaving Abner alone with Nefer for the moment.

“I gave Dreda the scoop,” Nefer said. “Please.”

He knew what she wanted. He sat down beside her, put his hands on her shoulders, and kissed her on the mouth. Again he felt her surprisingly mature passion.

“Thanks,” she breathed.

Nefer was, bit by bit, having her way with him.

On the way home, Dreda filled him in. “She did sneak out some. She knows some normal children she gets information from. She trades feels for it with the boys, stolen trinkets with the girls. She gave me the local address of the criminal sin—syndi—”

“Syndicate.”

“Syndicate, where they distribute the drugs.”

“That’s what we need to know,” Abner said. “Thank you, Dreda. I know you don’t like being friendly with a sopath, but it really helps.”

“Actually, she’s not bad, now that she’s treating me like a friend. It’s an act, but it works. You’re the one she wants.”

“I kissed her. I can do that much.”

“She’d do anything for a kiss, and more if you let her touch you where she wants. Maybe you should let yourself like her a little, daddy.”

“I’ll try,” he said.

There were Pariahs who knew how to use the Internet to track things down. They verified that the local source of the drugs was the address Nefer had given. They focused on it, intercepting more of the older sopaths now that they knew where to find them.

Then as Abner was backing out of his carport, there was an explosion under his car. The car was heaved up and thrown on its side. Only the secure seat belt saved him from a severe battering or worse. As it was, he was knocked out for a moment. He came to as Bunty was struggling to get him freed from the harness and out of the burning car.

The syndicate had zeroed in on him and tried to assassinate him, just as it had Sylvia.

“They’re playing for keeps!” Bunty said as she got him into the house and into bed. “Abner, we can’t continue like this!”

“We can’t quit, either,” he said. “We can’t turn the neighborhood over to the criminals and sopaths.”

She shook her head, knowing he was right.

He spent three days recovering, on Bunty’s insistence. He was bruised all over, and had an oppressive headache, but nothing was broken. Pariahs visited, commiserating.

So did Nefer. “Don’t tell me you care,” he teased her weakly.

“I do care,” she said. “You still owe me a jailbreak.”

Oh, of course. Trust her to have a selfishly practical motive. “I will honor it, if the time comes.”

“Do you want me to get in bed with you and rev you up?”

Was she trying to be helpful? “Thanks, no. Why did you come?”

“You’re going to get them back, right? Same way as we took out that pedo?”

He hadn’t thought of that. “I don’t think the same ploy will work this time. They aren’t pedophiles.”

“You’ve got that bomb.”

“Return the favor? Suddenly I like the way your mind works, Nefer. But I fear planting it where it counts would be impossible to accomplish. They’ll have guard dogs and electronic sensors.”

“But a sopath runner could get in. Maybe plant the bomb.”

“That thing must weigh a hundred pounds.”

“I could tote it on a wagon. Set it off in the house.”

“It would be suicide!”

“But it would get them.”

He stared at her. “Are you serious? You’re a sopath, you care for your own hide above all else.”

“I’d do it for you.”

“No.”

“Take me in bed with you now, and I’ll do it tonight.”

“You’re crazy!”

“No. But maybe in love.”

“You’re a child and a sopath. How can you love anyone other than yourself?”

“I’m a child and a sopath,” she agreed. “But I think I love you. Just being near you turns me on.”

Abner considered that. “May I consult with my wife?”

“Consult with them all. It’s a deal I’ll make.”

In moments the family was there with them. “Nefer has offered to be a suicide bomber, to take out the criminal distribution center. In return for sex with me. She says she loves me. Is this possible?”

The three of them focused on Nefer. “Let me hold your hand a moment,” Bunty told her.

Nefer offered it. Bunty took it and put her finger on the wrist, checking the pulse. “Now take her other hand, Abner.”

What was Bunty up to? Abner reached and took the girl’s other hand.

“Suddenly her pulse is accelerating,” Bunty said. “Now kiss her.”

Abner brought the girl to him and kissed her gently on the mouth.

“Racing,” Bunty announced as she released Nefer’s hand. “She either loves you or hates you.”

“I love him,” Nefer said. “I want to make him love me back, or at least like me a little. Knowing I’m a sopath.”

Bunty nodded. “As a sopath, she lacks civilized limits. A normal child would suppress romantic or sexual appetite for an adult, feeling shame. Nefer has no such restraint. She loves you and is bargaining openly for your return love. It’s a fair offer.”

“The hell it is!” he snapped. “I would not take advantage of her like that, either way.”

“I know you wouldn’t, dear. My point is that she is willing to do anything to win your favor, including suicide. That has to be respected.”

“You’re helping me!” Nefer said, amazed.

“I’m helping the man I love to accomplish his purpose. There are nuances that you are not equipped to understand, Nefer, but the essence is that yes, I support your case.”

Taken aback, Abner looked at Clark and Dreda. “What’s your take on this?”

“When she’s acting decent, she’s not bad,” Clark said.

“I don’t want her to die,” Dreda said. “I like her.” That was a formidable admission.

Now Nefer spoke. “You know I’m only pretending. I’m not your friend, Dreda. I can’t be anybody’s friend.”

Dreda looked cannily at her. “Daddy loves me. You love daddy.”

“So?”

“Let me interpret,” Bunty said. “A significant part of what Abner is, is his love for his family. We’re not his original family, but we’ve all had similar experiences with sopaths and we understand him, and he understands us. We fulfill each other. We all hate sopaths. But now we are coming to accept you, despite your nature, in part because you love Abner too. Maybe in a different way, but you do. You are coming to accept us because you can’t love Abner without loving what he loves too.”