FIVE
Full Slate
2067. January 13th.
Two weeks after the GenRes LifeSpace project ended. Peggy Kines and the rest of the people at the Hemmle County Family Services Center were responsible for many things. They issued the licenses for and performed all non-religious marriage and civil union ceremonies in the county. They arranged abortions, operated the county’s orphanage and foster-care system, oversaw all juvenile judicial cases, and processed all government financial assistance directed toward the welfare of children.
Peggy in no way liked every part of her job. She believed marriage was a Christian institution, for instance, or at least a Judeo-Christian institution. God had given marriage to humanity at the very beginning of creation with Adam and Eve, and here she was issuing marriage licenses to people who didn’t even believe in God! When it came down to it, she was supporting the hijacking of the sanctity of marriage! Anyone who came to her for a license got one, even gays and lesbians because that was her job.
And then there were the abortions. Peggy had always managed to counsel people out of aborting their unborn children and had instead convinced them of the merits of adoption. But what about her coworkers in the offices surrounding hers? They signed the abortion-approval papers multiple times a day! How could she work at a place like this?
But she had to think of the good she was doing too: all of those babies she had saved from abortion by her counseling, all of those children she had successfully placed in good homes or rescued from abusive parents. All of that was surely worth staying here, wasn’t it?
Then again, who was to say she couldn’t do the same things working for a non-profit organization? A Christian organization? Viola had started her own orphanage. Maybe she could go work with them. Or start her own counseling and referral service. It was something to think about.
But today, she told herself, is a good day. And it was a good day for baby Eric, too, because Eric was about to be adopted. She had given him the name shortly after he arrived and it was a marked improvement from his previous, unknown designation of LifeSpace subject Number Twelve. It had been New Year’s Eve when a masked man had broken into the front door at the Family Services building and simply left him, a newborn boy, lying in the lobby all by himself.
Peggy saw Jim Slate’s LandForce hovercar land in the Family Services parking lot. She had been standing with Eric at the door to the Center, watching out the window for them. “Eric, they’re here!” Peggy cooed. “They’re here! Are you ready?”
Peggy knew Jim from working with the county. She knew that the Deputy Protector General was a good man. She didn’t know if he was a Christian or not, but Peggy couldn’t use that as one of the criteria for who were eligible adopters. She had also gained confidence that Jim’s wife, Doranne, would be a good mother from the few conversations they had together over the last few months.
Eric, of course, didn’t give any reaction to the news of his new parents’ arrival. He simply lied in Peggy’s arms, staring up at her and sucking on his fingers.
“That’s okay, Eric,” Peggy said. “You don’t have to say anything. I know you’re excited.”
Jim and Doranne made it to the door, and Peggy was beaming as she commanded it to “Open!”
The door parted and Doranne, glowing, reached out to take Eric from Peggy’s hands. “Hi, Eric!” she smiled. “Do you remember us?”
As Peggy handed him over, she smiled and greeted the couple. “Hello, Deputy! Mrs. Slate! I hope you’re ready to become parents! Because today is the day!”
“Oh, I think we’re ready!” Jim laughed. “Been ready for a long time now.”
“Great! Then we’ll sign the final papers here, and you’ll be on your way! Now, are you sure you don’t want the government assistance? Raising kids takes a lot of money, you know.”
“Oh, I’m sure. LandForce pays pretty well. I think we can handle it. Besides, my parents never needed government aid to raise me!”
A few minutes later, the papers were signed and Jim and Doranne, along with the now-officially-named Eric Slate, were on their way home. Doranne hadn’t stopped playing with her new baby since she had taken him from Peggy. “This is going to be a good week for us,” she said as Jim’s hovercar lifted off.
“It sure is, babe,” Jim said, glancing over and smiling at her. He patted her leg, then squeezed her knee and made her jerk from the tickle.
“We’re going straight to your mom’s?” Doranne asked.
“Yeah. I’m sure she and Paméla and Richie’ll be excited to meet this little guy.”
“‘Kay. And then,” she said, lifting her baby boy up in front of her and making a funny voice, “for the rest of the week, it’s just me, you, and Eric! For a whole week! Yes! No office, no bad guys, no meetings with the County Senate, no disasters. Just a quality family vacation at home! Isn’t that right, Eric?”
January 14th.
But the next morning, at four fifty-six a.m., Jim’s phone erupted. Sleepily, he reached over to the nightstand, brought the device close enough to his face to read the display, and then set it back down on the nightstand and rolled over.
“Who was it?” Doranne whispered as she glanced over at Eric. His crib was next to her side of the bed.
“Work,” Jim answered huskily. “Darcey.”
“What’d she want? She doesn’t need you to come in, does she?”
“How should I know?” he answered irritably. “I didn’t answer it!” She should know he hadn’t answered it. She was always bothering him with obvious questions like that.
“Okay, okay. You don’t have to get so grumpy, Mr. Grumpy-Pants. Just go back to sleep.”
Jim let out an exasperated sigh and flopped over. “I don’t know if I can! Kid’s been keeping me awake all night!”
“Well, that ‘kid,’” she said, mocking him, “has to get used to his new home is all.”
“Yeah and right when I get to sleep again, Darcey calls!”
Jim’s handheld started ringing again. He snatched it from the table and flipped it open. His yelling had started Eric crying, and he immediately regretted it. As Doranne got up to comfort the baby, Jim said, “Deputy Slate. Uh…no, I didn’t see Darcey’s call, sir. I was asleep.” Then he listened intently as Protector General Willoughby spoke. After a few moments, Jim said, “Yes, sir. I’ll meet her there.”
“What is it?” Doranne asked, holding Eric and rocking him against her chest.
“I’ve gotta go,” he said, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and sitting up.
“What! Why? I thought you were on vacation! Don’t they know you’re on vacation?”
“Yeah, Doranne, they know! But they’re calling me anyway, okay? And I’ve gotta go!” He knew she wasn’t going to like this. She was probably going to start nagging him now about how he was always working and how he never had enough time for her. She’ll be asking how he was going to find the time to start a family and then she would probably start crying and then yadda yadda yadda.
“There’s been an explosion,” he explained. “And a fire. Almost half a block is gone, Willoughby said. Started at Mercy First Hospital.”
“What? How?”
“I don’t know! I gotta go find out.”
“Well, can’t they send someone else? You’re on…”
“Apparently not.”
Fine,” Doranne said coldly.
“What? What do you want me to say, Doranne? You think it’s easy being the Deputy PG?”
She stared at him for a moment before saying, “No, I don’t. But it’s not easy being the wife of the Deputy PG, either.”
“Every serial killer, every hostage situation, every mob crime spree, I’m the one that has to take care of it! I’m the one responsible!”
No, you’re the one who wants to take care of it, Doranne thought, but she didn’t say it because she knew Jim didn’t want to listen. He wanted to take out his frustrations for not getting any sleep because they had a baby now. Fine, let him. He’d be gone in a minute anyway.
But the bulk of Jim’s anger didn’t come from his mostly sleepless night. He had more frustrations than Doranne knew about, more than he had ever told her. “You think it’s easy being a LandForce General? You think it’s easy being a man like me and not being able to make his own kid? Do you? Well, it’s not, Doranne! It’s not! Okay?”
“Jim…” she began, her voice soft now, shocked that he had brought up his impotency. She didn’t know it bothered him. She imagined that it would, but he had never shown any signs of it before. Even when she asked him about it, he always waved it off and said it didn’t matter.
“I’ve gotta go!” he yelled. And he stomped out of the bedroom and then out of the house. Doranne heard his hovercar take off outside.
As Jim approached downtown, he could see the smoking, burned-out, fire-scarred buildings lining the streets below him. He was mostly calmed down now. He felt bad about the way he had yelled at Doranne. He knew the pressures of his job and his embarrassment at being sterile weren’t her fault. None of it was. He guessed he probably should’ve talked to her about it before they brought Eric home, but how does a guy talk about that kind of stuff? I’m sorry, honey, but my stupid, male ego makes me feel like an idiot for having to adopt. Yes, I know I can be a big, tough LandForceman, but what does that matter if I can’t even make my own kid? And yes, dear, I’d like to adopt a child with you, but what if I don’t like him as much because he’ll always remind me of how I couldn’t make my own baby? At the same time, I realize that all of those things shouldn’t matter, so why did I say them? He had needed someone to vent to, someone to take it out on, and she was there. But it was over now. It was his problem, and he would deal with it. He had to deal with it. I’ll make it up to her later, he thought. I’ll do something special for her and the baby.
But first, he had to see what this explosion and fire were all about. Darcey and the PG wouldn’t have called him down here if it was merely an accident. Darcey could’ve handled that herself, which meant she suspected criminal activity or terrorism.
Jim landed his hovercar on the outskirts of the damaged area. Fire Division Forcepersons and rescue workers were streaming over the entire site around the hospital, using infrared sensors to locate survivors buried in the rubble.
Whoever did this, Jim thought, they’re going down. Big-time.
Deputy PG of the Fire Divison, Darcey Piper, was waiting for him outside the command tent. “Quite a mess we’ve got here, Darce,” Jim said.
“Tell me about it. Death toll's climbing up to about eight thousand now, plus injured. Including staff, there were almost six thousand people in the hospital alone.”
Jim nodded. “So what do you think?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll have to wait until some of this is cleaned up to start my investigation, but there’s a couple here I want you to talk to.” She smirked. “They have a pretty interesting story.”
“Okay. They know how the fire started?”
“I’ll let you talk to ‘em yourself,” she said.
Jim followed Darcey into the tent, wishing he knew what the joke was. Sitting inside huddled together was a young man and woman. They looked to be in their mid-twenties.”
“Deputy,” Darcey said, “this is Lance and Carmen Auger.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Auger,” Jim said, reaching out and shaking their hands. He sat down on a black, plastic, swivel chair in front of them. “I’m Deputy Jim Slate. The Fire Deputy here tells me you have some information about what happened last night.”
Mrs. Auger, Carmen, began crying again and Lance pulled her closer to his chest. “It was our son,” he said, his voice quavering as he stroked his wife’s hair. “We had just adopted him, not even a week ago. We had to bring him here to the hospital the day before last.”
“What was wrong with him?” Jim asked.
“Well, Carmen was holding him, and he wouldn’t stop crying. He wasn’t hungry, wasn’t ready for a change, didn’t want to sleep, nothing. He just wouldn’t stop crying.”
“So what did you do?” Jim asked, his eyes narrowing. He thought that maybe they had hurt the child to make him be quiet and that was why they had to bring to the hospital.
“Nothing! He just kept crying louder and louder and then…he was on fire!”
Jim stared at Lance.
“I know it sounds crazy. We didn’t know how it happened. Carmen freaked out and dropped him down in his crib, and I pulled the extra blanket off and smothered him to make the flames go out. Then I called Emergency Rescue. When they got there, they said he was all burned up. It was terrible. But he was breathing.”
“And you have no idea how he caught on fire?” Jim asked sarcastically.
“No!”
“You’re sure you didn’t get frustrated with him for crying and…”
“No! I swear! But last night, when we were here at the hospital, he woke up again. He had been unconscious since that first time. We were watching him through the window there and when he woke up, he started crying again. They had him on pain suppressants, but with all those burns… Then, we saw little flames start breaking out all over him again. We ran to get a doctor or someone, but when we came back, the whole burn unit was on fire! People were evacuating the area. They wouldn’t let us back in!”
“And here’s something interesting,” Darcey put in. “Mr. Auger, tell him who was evacuating the area.”
“LandForce! They were telling everyone to get as far back as possible. They evacuated the hospital and kept pushing everyone further down the street.”
Darcey stepped forward, signaling to Jim that he had heard everything he needed.
Jim stood, shook Lance’s hand, and then Carmen’s. “Mr. and Mrs. Auger, thank you. I am truly sorry for your loss. If you’ll excuse me…” And with that, Jim walked back out of the tent with Darcey following him.
When they were a few feet away, Jim turned and faced her. “They said LandForce was evacuating the hospital. Why not Fire Division?”
“Exactly,” Darcey said. “And LandForce couldn’t have gotten there that quick anyway. The fire alarm had barely gone off.”
“So the Augers are crazy. You heard their story. You don’t think their kid had something to do with it?”
“No, of course not. People don’t catch on fire for no reason. But remote cameras do corroborate the rest of their story. People in LandForce uniforms were clearing the area around the hospital prior to the explosion.”
“So we’ve got people dressed as LandForce evacuating a building that they intend to blow up?”
Darcey nodded. “Sounds like it.”
“Why would they do that? If they’re the ones blowing up the building – if they’re terrorists or something – why wouldn’t they try to get people out first?”
“I don’t know. But I bet you can ask ‘em when you catch ‘em!”
Jim nodded. “All right. I’ll call HQ and get ‘em started on inventory check requests. If those Force uniforms are authentic, they had to have gotten them from somewhere.”
January 15th.
The next morning, a few minutes before five a.m., Jim’s phone rang again. It was Darcey. Jim took a deep breath and pushed the button. Darcey,” Jim groaned, “don’t you ever sleep?”
“No. But I thought you should know…”
“Yeah?”
“The inventory request we sent out?
“Yeah…”
“Well, I just got off the phone with Deputy General Machen from our base in Shcherbakovo.”
“As in Shcherbakovo, Russia,” Jim clarified.
“Right. He says they’re missing 25 LandForce uniforms from their inventory lockers. Didn’t notice until we sent out the request.”
“I take it they haven’t noticed any break-ins lately?”
“Not as far as they can tell and their last inventory check was three days ago, so…”
“So it had to have happened some time within the last three days.”
“Right. But their cameras don’t show anyone taking anything. They’re doing an internal audit, but right now…”
Jim sighed. “Assuming Shcherbakovo is right on that three-day window, we need to check all kinds of traffic leaving Russia during that time: every flight manifest, every border guard detail, all the port lists, all commercial shipping records, everything. We’ve gotta find ‘em.”
“All right,” Darcey said, “I’ll get on it.”
As Jim set the handheld down, Roxy jumped onto the bed and began licking his face. “Dog!” he protested.
Beside him, Doranne turned over, laughing. “Isn’t she great, Jim? Yes, Roxy’s great!” she said in her baby voice, as she grabbed the little golden-haired cocker spaniel and cuddled her.
“Yeah, she’s great all right,” Jim said, wiping his face of dog-kisses and rolling over.
“It was a good idea for you to get her, Jim. I love her and I’m sure Eric will too.”
“Yeah?” Jim smiled. The puppy had been Jim’s way of smoothing things over with Doranne yesterday, a surprise peace-offering he had picked up on his way home from the hospital bomb site. “Well,” he said, “every boy’s gotta have a dog.”
January 16th.
The next morning, Jim Slate was in his office, sipping coffee and reading over reports from Darcey and his own junior officers. Even though he was supposed to have been on vacation for another three days, he had decided to preempt Darcey’s morning call. She was awesome to look at, but she had turned out to be a real pain when a fella was trying to sleep in for once.
Speaking of whom, Jim just happened to look up and saw the Fire Deputy briskly weaving her way through the desks toward his office. She was looking good this morning. Who could blame him for being so attracted to her? It wasn’t that he liked Darcey more than Doranne. Sure, Doranne had put on a few pounds over the years, but she was still pretty. He still loved her. It was just that Darcey was different. And a couple years younger. He had been with Doranne since high school! He could at least think about someone else, couldn’t he?
Darcey pulled open his office door and stepped inside.
“Morning, Darcey!” Jim greeted.
“Good morning,” she answered cheerily, a bit surprised by his good mood. “I was about to call you.”
“I figured that. What’s up?”
“We’ve got a name…but not really.”
“Okay…”
“Gordon Valenti.”
“‘Gordon Valenti,’ Jim repeated.
Darcey nodded. “He’s our guy, at least one of them, except his name isn’t Gordon Valenti. The real Gordon Valenti is an insurance salesman from Newsprings and has a solid alibi. But someone purchased a ticket using Valenti’s name and credit card for an Atpac commercial flight from Munugudzhak…”
“…South of Shcherbakovo.”
“Right. From Munugudzhak to Base City on the twelfth.”
“Okay. Which is the day Shcherbakovo says their uniforms came up missing.”
“Right.”
“So do we know when ‘Gordon Valenti’ got to Russia? Where he came from?”
“He left Base City late on the eleventh.”
“So our next step is to take a look at the camera scans from Base City Airport and Munugudzhak Airport and run a match for known criminals in the database.”
“Already working on it.”
Later that night. Bobby Fraley sat in the passenger seat of the car, checking his gun for the third time while his ‘partner,’ Nick Santori, was inside the building, talking to the Doc. Nick never let Bobby go inside to see the doc, not since the first time when the Doc got upset about it. “You don’t talk to the Doc,” Nicky had said. “I talk to the Doc. That’s what he said, so that’s how it works.”
But Nicky was always telling him ‘how it works.’ True, Nicky had made the contact with the Doc, whatever his name was, but so what? That didn’t automatically make Nicky the boss, did it?
Nick came back out of the building a few moments later, and Bobby quickly tucked his gun under his leg where Nicky wouldn’t see it.
Nick had something in his arms when he got in the car. Bobby knew it was eight-month-old Sammy Auger. The infant’s skin had become almost completely charred and leathered from his burns at the Augers’ house and the hospital, but the Doc had soothed and dressed his wounds. Sedated now, Sammy could no longer feel the pain of his injuries.
“What’d he say?” Bobby asked.
“He told me to kill ‘im,” Nick answered as he started the car.
“‘Kill ‘im’?” Bobby repeated, faking incredulity. “What for?”
“What do you mean what for? ‘Cause he’s dangerous. You saw what he did – took out a whole city block!”
“Yeah, but still, Nicky. Killin’ a kid? Why didn’t the Doc do it himself? Inject him with something?”
“‘Cause. The Doc’s not a killer. That’s why he hired us. It’s why he had us go get him from the hospital and clear it out as best we could. So he doesn’t have to get his hands dirty.”
“Well, I figured he would fix ‘im up. I mean, why have us bring ‘im to ‘im if he’s not gonna do anything?”
“He wanted to figure out what was wrong with ‘im. He didn’t want to fix ‘im. Not after being burned like that.”
“All right, all right. Whatever. So are you gonna do it?”
“Do what?”
“Kill the kid!”
“Of course I’ll do it!” Nick lied. “That’s what the Doc paid me for, i’n it?” In reality, Nick was thinking the exact same thing Bobby was. For the past three and a half years, the Doc had been contracting with Nick – and Nick had recently brought in Bobby – to fly all over the world, usually to poorer countries, and kidnap or buy newborn babies and bring them back here. Then, two weeks ago, the Doc decided he didn’t want to keep the kids anymore. He told Nick and Bobby to take all of ‘em and drop ‘em off at the County and some different adoption or orphanage-type places, but to keep a file on the kids and track them in the system if they were moved or adopted. That’s how Nick had known that Sammy had been taken to the hospital in the first place. He had been watching him.
Still, the Doc had never asked him to do anything lethal until tonight. Then again, he had never asked him to break into a LandForce base, smuggle government uniforms back into the city, and impersonate a LandForceman while evacuating a hospital before, either. Which got Nick to thinking. Sammy Auger must be pretty special for the Doc to have him doing all this.
He had tried to get the Doc to tell him what he was using the kids for before, but the Doc would never say. Now he knew. Sammy Auger had started that fire, an explosion to put it more accurately, that nearly leveled a whole city block. It had to have been because of something the Doc had done. It was like he was making these kids into some sort of new biological weapon. The question now was, Could Sammy do it again? And if so, could Nick somehow control when he did it? He wasn’t sure, and he knew how dangerous it was to keep Sammy around, but Nick was not going to kill him, no matter what the Doc said, until he found Sammy’s potential.
“Nick, you haven’t ever killed a kid before, have you?” Bobby asked. “It’s not like killing an adult.”
“You offering to do it for me, Bobby?”
“What? No!” That was what Bobby was proposing exactly. If he could get Nick to hand Sammy over, then he could use Sammy in the same way Nick was planning to. “I mean, I will if you want.”
“No, thanks. I got it.”
So Nick wasn’t going to hand Sammy over. But Bobby wasn’t sure he wanted to pull his gun on him and take Sammy by force, either. He knew Nick was flying out of town again tomorrow morning so maybe there was an easier way to get his hands on Sammy and get rid of Nick at the same time.
An hour later, Bobby was in the parking lot across from Ben and Kim Cummings’ apartment building. He had reasoned that this is where Nick would come. Besides Bobby, or maybe now in lieu of Bobby, Ben was Nick’s most trusted ally. He was also his brother-in-law.
Bobby watched as Nick pulled up, got out of his car, and carried Sammy into the building.
“Nick,” Ben nodded when he opened the door. Ben was a big man, black and muscular, with a deep and somber voice. “Is that…”
“Hey, Ben. Yeah, it’s the kid from the hospital the other night. Listen, I need you to do something for me.”
“I’m listening.”
“I gotta fly out tomorrow morning, and I need you to keep an eye on the kid here until I get back.”
Ben squinted. “You being serious, Nick? ‘Cause I don’t do babysitting.”
“Yeah, I’m serious, Ben. I need you to watch for him two days, all right? That’s it. You give him this medicine, and you won’t even know he’s here.”
Ben took the medicine and looked at it. “What’s it do?”
“It makes him sleep. Of course, you’ll have to feed him, but you can just put the formula down a tube to his stomach.”
“A feeding tube?” Ben raised one eyebrow.
“Ben, will you do it or not?”
“The cops on to you?”
“No.”
“Then why didn’t you ask Bobby to do it?”
“Because I’m asking you to do it.”
“You and Bobby fall out?”
“No.”
But Ben still wasn’t convinced. He didn’t know why his brother-in-law had taken this baby from the hospital in the first place, didn’t know about the Doc or the possible danger that Sammy posed. Of course, Nick wouldn’t bring the kid here if there was any real trouble. He wouldn’t endanger his own sister. Still, Ben did not want to spend the next two days watching over a child, especially one as bad off as this one.
“All right, Ben. I can see you don’t want to help me on this…” Nick began.
Ben sighed. “I’ll do it.” There were a lot of reasons not to, only one reason to. And that was that Nick had asked him to and Ben wanted to stay on good terms with Nick. It was no secret that Ben wanted to be Nick’s go-to man instead of Bobby.
After Nick handed Sammy over, he said, “You’ll have to change his dressings, too. I don’t want him getting all infected.”
“Man…” Ben sighed, shaking his head and going back into his apartment. This was getting better and better.
When Bobby saw Nick come out of the apartment building empty-handed, he knew what he had to do.
January 17th.
The next morning. Ben and Kim were waking up in the bedroom, while in the living room, Sammy lie by himself on the cushioned chair in the corner. He had been sleeping, wrapped in his blankets, ever since Nick had taken him from the Doc the night before.
Across the room, a masked figure silently slid the window up and crawled inside. Bobby had his gun out, ready for anything, but he was hoping not to use it. He also had an anesthesia-filled syringe ready. He tiptoed to the chair where Sammy was and quickly stuck him with the needle, squeezing the anesthesia into him. No sense in risking little Sammy waking up and ‘going off’ before I’m ready, Bobby though.
He gently lifted Sammy and turned back toward the window. But as he turned, Ben’s massive fist caught him squarely in the jaw and sent him sprawling to the floor. As Bobby fell, he made sure to cushion Sammy’s fall with his own body.
When he landed, he could see Ben towering over him, but he raised the gun and fired before Ben could react.
The gun cracked, Kim screamed from the bedroom, and Ben’s body slammed back. Bobby knew that the bullet had only hit Ben’s shoulder. He thought about shooting him again to finish the job but decided to get out instead. Ben was down. He couldn’t follow him, and since Bobby was wearing a mask and hadn’t spoken, Ben would never know that it had been him.
As the plane Nick (now traveling as Dave Pearlman) was on took off and as Bobby made his escape from Ben’s apartment, Darcey’s desktop computer suddenly stopped scanning. It had finally landed in the S’s on the face of Nicholas Orazio Santori. Darcey looked up from her handheld, where she was skimming the day’s headlines, and, sure enough, Nick Santori’s mug shot perfectly matched the security cameras’ footage from both Base City Airport and Munugudzhak Airport. His face was the only one identified in both places on the specified days. He was also an ex-con, arrested for breaking and entering back in 2054. Darcey knew she had her man. She told the computer to scan all other security camera archives for Nick’s face and went to find Jim.
Jim was coming into work when Darcey met him at his office door. “We’ve got him!” she reported triumphantly.
Jim unlocked his office door and asked, “The arsonist? ‘Gordon Valenti’?”
“Yep. His name’s Nicholas Santori, ex-con for B&E.”
“B&E?” Jim repeated, his eyes squinting in confusion. “How does somebody go from B&E to blowing up a hospital?”
“I don’t know, but he’s the guy.”
“All right. Let me see.” Jim set his jacket and briefcase down on his desk and followed Darcey back to hers. He bent down and studied her monitor for a few seconds. “You’re right. That’s him. Good work, Darcey,” and he rubbed her shoulder. Almost immediately, he realized what he was doing and took his hand off again. “Let’s see,” he said, clearing his throat, “address is 513 South Scudder. I’ll get a team together, and we’ll pick him up.”
Jim was walking back to his office when Darcey called him back. “Hang on a sec, Jim.”
Jim came back and saw that her computer had popped up with another image of Nick. It was from a security camera at Base City Airport dated an hour ago. “Blast!” Jim said. “Find out where he’s going. We’ll call and have authorities pick ‘im up there.”
An hour later, Bobby Fraley pulled off his mask and pushed a button on a remote control. Two blocks away, at the FederalTown Savings and Loan, Sammy was beginning to stir. Bobby, wearing his skin-tight theatrical mask, had quietly left Sammy in his carrying seat in the bank’s lobby a few minutes before. Now, a strong electrical impulse was searing its way through Sammy’s damaged nerves, slowly rousing him from his drug-induced sleep. It started in his left hand, where Bobby had taped a home-made relay, and shot up through his arm and into the rest of his body.
The bank’s security officer, a middle-aged black man, had noticed the unattended child and had called the manager over. A young female teller had also joined them, staring down at the baby. “What’s wrong with him?” the teller asked. She was a blonde, pretty and young. She had never seen anything, much less a human baby, in such a horrific state.
“I don’t know,” the security officer said, not wanting to voice the truth of the situation.
“He’s burnt,” the elderly white manager answered. “Someone probably didn’t want to take care of him, so they left him here.”
“Probably the same person that burnt him,” the security officer guessed.
“Is he alive?” the teller asked.
“Yeah, he’s alive,” the security officer answered. “You can see ‘im breathing.”
“I’ll call LandForce,” the manager said.
But he never got that far. “Look!” the teller exclaimed. Sammy had begun to shake from the electricity going through his body.
“He’s waking up,” the officer said.
And Sammy did wake up, very annoyed. The electrical impulse kept flooding his brain, vibrating his whole body.
The three bank employees watched as Sammy screamed out, bawling at the top of his lungs. A second later, they saw flames pop out all over him. “What?” marveled the manager. But then it was all over. A surge of flame sprang out of Sammy and engulfed everything and everyone around him.
The sprinklers turned on, but that only made it worse. The water hitting Sammy’s electrical relay intensified his pain, causing him to make the flames higher and hotter. Within moments, the fire tore through the bank and was spreading both ways down the street.
Bobby punched the button on the remote again and the relay shut off, allowing Sammy to pass out. Meanwhile, Bobby was rushing through the flames toward the bank. He had a ventilation mask on and was wearing one of the protective LandForce uniforms that Nick had stolen from Shcherbakovo. Still, he knew that he couldn’t stay long. The real LandForce would be here soon enough. He just wanted to check one thing. He walked behind what was left of the counter and into the back room. Blast! Bobby thought. The tungsten vault was unscathed. Sammy’s explosive powers couldn’t break through bank safes.
Well, at least he knew. He would have to work on the application, but Sammy could definitely be useful. He pulled another syringe out, stuck Sammy again to make sure he stayed unconscious, and carried him out.
As Bobby drove home, he kept glancing over at the baby in the seat next to him. As far as he could tell, Sammy was no more injured than he had been before. Somehow, this last fire had not hurt him.
But maybe that makes sense, Bobby thought. Maybe the Doc did fix him and just didn’t get rid of his burns. Didn’t Nick say the Doc wanted to see what went wrong with him? If the Doc was working on making Sammy and the other kids into some kind of new biological weapon, what good would it be for them to kill themselves doing it? They weren’t supposed to be suicide bombers or fire starters, were they? No, the trick was that they would start the fire and blow stuff up, but then not get hurt themselves. They were supposed to be immune to it! Only the problem was that Sammy hadn’t been immune at first.
The next thing was to continue adding to his collection, building his arsenal. Sammy could cause some damage; that was for sure. But what if he had ten Sammys who could all do the same thing? He had delivered seven children to adoption agencies, all of whom had presumably been injected by the Doc, and since Nick and the Doc had made Bobby keep a file on all the kids he placed, he knew exactly where to find them again.
The question was, could he also find the kids Nick had placed? Not unless he had Nick’s files, which meant that Bobby’s next stop was going to be Nick’s house. Hopefully, Nick had left his files at home when he flew out of the country today.
Twenty seconds after Sammy ignited, Darcey received a text on her handheld. “Fire alarm: FederalTown Savings and Loan.” It gave the address. Whenever an alarm system registered a fire anywhere in the county, the location was automatically sent back to the firehouse and to the phones of any Fire Division personnel on duty at the time. She grabbed her jacket off the back of her chair and rushed toward the door.
While she was running, another text message came up. Darcey pulled her phone out of its belt holder and brought it up to her face. “Fire alarm: Starbucks Coffee” followed by the address. That’s right beside the bank! Darcey thought. And then another. “Fire alarm: Spun For You Olde-Fashioned Tailoring Shoppe,” right next to the other two. And then another. “Fire alarm: BC Bistro,” going the other way from the bank. And they kept coming.
Darcey turned and ran to Jim’s office. “Jim!” she panted. “It’s happening again! A whole block is going up!”
Blast! Bobby thought. He had broken into Nick’s apartment, gone through everything there, and hadn’t found a thing connected to the kids. He should have known that Nick wouldn’t leave incriminating evidence like that laying around.
Four hours after he left Base City, Nick Santori landed in Ining, China. Word had it that this is where all the Cruise in the world came from so he thought if he could buy it here, from its source, and then take it back to Base City rather than buying from who knew how many middlemen, his profits would be that much higher.
That evening. Witnesses confirmed Jim and Darcey’s findings that the fire had started at the bank. It was by far the most badly damaged building on the street with those next to it worse than the ones further down. But other than that, they had gotten nowhere. The sun was setting, and they still had no idea what had caused the fire.
“I don’t get it!” Darcey cried out in frustration. “How did he do this?” She pointed to the rescue workers pulling body after body out of the wreckage as she began to cry.
Jim put an arm around her and rubbed her back for a moment.
“I’m sorry,” Darcey said, collecting herself.
“It’s all right,” Jim comforted her. “Let’s think about what we’ve got here. We know that Santori delivered the LandForce uniforms in anticipation of the fire at the hospital, right?”
“Right. But there was no ‘LandForce’ clearing the area today.”
“Right. So we need to figure out why not. What was different about today?”
“Well, we know that Nick Santori skipped town this morning.”
As Jim and Darcey ran over their various theories, one obvious conclusion kept coming to the forefront; they needed Nick Santori.
“Okay,” Jim said. “You’re tired; I’m tired. Why don’t you go home and get some rest and we’ll wait to see if Santori gets picked up somewhere.”
Darcey agreed, and Jim got in his hovercar. A second late, his phone rang. On the other end, Bobby Fraley said, “Jim Slate? I have some information for you.”
“Who is this?”
Bobby chuckled to himself. “Don’t worry about that, Slate. Just listen. A man named Nick Santori is going to be landing at Newsprings Airport in about an hour. He’s already in the air under a false name. He’s got a bunch of false names. When you find ‘im, search carefully. He’ll most certainly have something illegal on ‘im.”
“What about the fires?”
Fires? Bobby hadn’t realized that LandForce had already linked Nick with the two fires. This was too good. “Nick Santori’s the one responsible for those fires. At the hospital and at the bank. You leave now, you should be able to get ‘im in Newsprings.”
Bobby hung up and tossed the phone into a garbage bin. He had ‘borrowed’ it from a guy at the diner down the street. “Mission accomplished,” he said to Sammy, whom he carried against his shoulder with his other hand. Now let’s hope Nick keeps quiet. Bobby didn’t think Nick would say anything about the Doc or Bobby’s involvement because, for one, Nick would have no reason to think that Bobby had been the one to turn him in, and two, Nick wasn’t usually a talker. He’d stay quiet, let the Force pin what they could on him, which could be as little as a couple of counts of identity theft and one count of kidnapping, do his time, and wait to get out. And by the time Nick gets out, Bobby thought, me and my bio-weapon kids’ll be ready for him.
Forty-five minutes later, Jim, Darcey, and a team of Forcepersons from Newsprings were in the airport, waiting for Nick Santori to show up. There were two Forcepersons guarding every gate in the airport, two guarding every exit, and thirty more wandering the interior, searching every face for their suspect. They knew that Nick had supposedly been heading to China, but there were three flights coming in from that direction over the next hour: five from New Korea, and two from other countries in that vicinity. Jim and Darcey chose one gate and stood with the guards.
“Man, do I hope we get this guy,” Darcey remarked.
“Yeah. Me too.” Jim was smiling as he winked at her. “Just as long as that tip I got was good.”
Darcey nodded. This would all be a colossal waste of time otherwise. For all they knew, that anonymous tip could have been meant to throw them off track again.
But ten minutes later, Nick Santori came strolling down the exit tunnel a few gates away from where Jim and Darcey were watching. Nick immediately spotted the Forcemen and momentarily stopped in his tracks. There were never Forcepeople guarding an exit tunnel, not unless they were looking for something.
Okay, Nick thought, breaking into a cold sweat. What to do? He had Cruise vials stuck in the lining of his suitcases, multiple stolen or fake I.D.s, and nowhere to go. He could get back on the plane, but what good would that do? If he refused to get off, they would call security.
Well, nothing for it, he thought and kept walking.
When he reached the gate, the two Forcemen stepped forward to meet him. No doubt about it. They had come for him. He quickly set his suitcases down on the floor and then suddenly started running, pushing his way through the remaining few people in front of him, hoping to somehow break through the Forcemen guarding the gate.
When he got to them, he simultaneously pushed one of the Forcemen back while dodging the grasp of the other and took off running as fast as he could through the crowd. He knew the Forcemen would be right behind him.
Jim and Darcey’s, along with every other Forcepersons’, radios squawked. “Suspect on the move! Heading west toward arrival gate 73!” Jim and Darcey recognized that as their gate and ran out to the aisle.
Sure enough, Jim saw Nick running straight at him. Jim stayed off to the side and then, right before Nick got to him, stepped out, bent down, braced himself, and caught Nick square in the gut with his shoulder. Jim grabbed Nick’s legs out from under him and threw him, shocked and breathless, to the ground while Darcey came and stood over him, aiming her pistol at his chest.
January 18th.
The next morning. Jim and Darcey had sat with Nick all night in the Interview Room at Base City HQ. Darcey was trying to stare him down, but Nick wasn’t budging. He met her gaze easily and held it, ignoring her and letting his mind drift. The benches under them were concrete, but Nick seemed comfortable enough. A lone cup of coffee sat on the concrete table. It was for Darcey, not Nick, but Nick didn’t act as if he wanted any. In fact, he didn’t seem to want anything. Jim was busy ranting and raving, pacing the concrete floor, smacking the concrete walls. The room was designed to remind suspects of the prison cell that awaited them if they didn’t cooperate, but neither Jim nor the décor had intimidated Nick Santori. He hadn’t made a sound or shown any emotion since Jim had tackled him the night before.
Jim slammed his fist down on the table in front of Nick. “Blast it, Santori!” Jim yelled. “Give me something! Who are you supplying? Who’s your contact? How did the fires start? How did you get in and out of Shcherbakovo without being seen?”
“Nick,” Darcey said softly, “give us something to work with and we can let you off a little easier.”
But Nick didn’t answer. He only stared straight ahead.
“What are we gonna do?” Darcey asked when she and Jim stepped into the hallway.
“I don’t know. There’s nothing we can do.” Jim rubbed his hand down his face to wake himself up. “He’s not talking.”
“So are we gonna give up? We can bust him on the Cruise, but we don’t have anything solid to connect him to the fires.”
“I know. No, we’re not gonna give up. But I need a break from that guy, or I’m gonna break and kill him myself.”
Darcey nodded.
“You wanna go get some breakfast?” Jim asked.
“Sure.”
After breakfast, Jim went home, kissed Doranne on the cheek, stroked Eric’s head for a couple of seconds, and crashed into his bed. Four hours later, he was up again and on his way to the office.
It was two in the afternoon Darcey was at her desk, studying her computer monitor. “Hey,” Jim said, “back already?”
“What?” Darcey looked up from her computer. “Oh. No, I never made it home. Take a look at this.” She turned her monitor toward him and pressed ‘Play.’
On the screen, Jim watched as a man carried a baby seat into a bank lobby, set it down, and walk out again. He saw the bank’s security guard and then the manager and teller gather around the baby, and then stared as the baby suddenly caught on fire. “What the…?” A few seconds later, the screen went blue.
“It’s the tape from – ”
“The FederalTown bank.”
“Exactly,” Darcey confirmed. “Just prior to the fire last night. I got the tape from their main office in Wichita. They say the branches’ security cams upload to the main office every couple of seconds as a fail-safe back-up.”
“In case something like this happens.”
Darcey nodded.
“So, that kid did catch on fire.” He was suddenly reminded of Lance and Carmen Auger’s impossible story about how their kid started the fire at the hospital.
“It looks like it.”
“Do you think it’s…?”
“Sammy Auger,” Darcey finished.
Jim exhaled heavily. “How? People don’t catch on fire for no reason.”
Darcey smiled a little, and said, “No. People used to talk about spontaneous combustion and tell all these stories about people suddenly bursting into flames. But there’s no such thing. Usually, what people think of as spontaneous combustion is a build-up of static electricity that finally sparks and causes a fire on someone’s clothing. Of, course it could spread like any other fire that comes into contact with other flammable materials, but…”
Jim nodded and then said, “Maybe it was an accident for Sammy the first time, but if this is Sammy on the tape, then he’s done it at least three times now, and it looks like someone knew when he would do it, or how to make him do it, because they put him in the bank on purpose.”
Darcey nodded, and Jim continued. “Which brings us back to the man at the bank. Did you notice that wasn’t his real face?”
“Yeah,” Darcey said. “He was wearing a mask. Skin tight, like the kind they use for special effects in the movies for building monsters and stuff like that.”
“Right. So this guy takes Sammy from the hospital, probably with Santori’s help, and then plants him in the bank. Now the question is…”
“What are they gonna do next?”
“Exactly. Auger survived the fire at the hospital…”
“And the fire at home with the Augers…”
Jim nodded. “So it’s probable that he survived the bank. Unless you found his body.”
Darcey shook her head. “No babies at the bank.”
“Then we’ve gotta find him. And the guy in the mask.” Then maybe we can figure out how Sammy’s doing it.
January 19th.
The next night. “Are you tired?” Doranne asked.
Jim grunted. “Dead. But I keep trying to figure all this out, how it’s even possible.”
There had been another unexplained fire early that morning at a place called Kim’s Restaurant, the owner of which was Kim Cummings, Nick Santori’s sister.
Jim had questioned Kim and her husband, Ben, pretty hard. Ben, was especially suspicious because of his recent gunshot wound in the shoulder.
Now, their restaurant had been destroyed by an Auger-like explosion, and Jim knew that couldn’t be a coincidence.
Had it been to keep Nick and his family from talking? Did Kim or Ben know something about the man Nick had been working for? Did any of them know how Auger did what he did?
Jim had asked Kim and Ben all these questions. He had even gone to the Base City Detention Facility and asked Nick about everything again. But Kim and Ben acted as if they didn’t know what he was talking about and he still couldn’t get Nick to say a single word to him.
At 3:17 in the morning, Jim got up to relieve himself. The problem was that he was still mostly asleep and so he did not quite find the toilet. Or the bathroom.
January 20th.
The next morning. Jim’s head was still buried in his pillow when he heard Doranne’s voice yelling at him from the next room. “Jim!” she said. “You’re going into work late today! You have to go get Eric some new toys!”
Jim immediately realized what had happened and thought, Well, at least it wasn’t into the fan this time. The blowback on that had been messy.
2069. September 15th.
Two and a half years later. Jim and Doranne had decided to take Eric on one last summer outing before the onset of fall. They took him to the Base City Zoo. “Look at all these animals, Eric!” Doranne exclaimed.
It was a fun and exciting day for the almost-three-year-old. He had been to the Zoo before, but not that he could remember. As fun as it was, though, it was also tiring being out in the sun and walking all that way. Eric spent most of the time riding on Jim’s shoulders. Toward the end of the day, Eric was getting cranky.
“What’s the matter, Errie?” Doranne asked.
“He must be tired,” Jim concluded. “One more stop and then I guess we should go. You won’t want to miss this, Eric.”
Walking a little further, Jim set Eric down on top of a short wall. Eric stood wide-eyed with Jim holding on to his waist. Below, Eric could see two brown bears sleeping in the sun. Bears were Eric’s favorite. He had three teddy bears at home that he would carry around and sleep with.
The next instant, Eric had leaped out of his father’s hold and lie crying on the ground below, inside the bears’ habitat.
“Eric!” Doranne screamed, leaning down over the wall. “Jim!” she yelled frantically, turning to grab onto her husband’s arm, but Jim was already kneeling on top of the ledge, preparing himself to drop down into the habitat.
Glancing behind him, Jim could see that the two bears hadn’t moved from their sunning-rocks. Carefully, he swung himself over the wall and, gripping the ledge, dropped down. His feet stung from the impact when he landed, and he was forced to limp over to his son. Meanwhile, other visitors to the Zoo had gone off running for help, while some gathered around to watch what would happen.
“Eric!” Jim whispered, hoping not to arouse the bears. Picking up his son, he said, “Eric, are you all right?”
“Is he okay?” Doranne yelled down.
Jim looked up at her. “I don’t know!” he whispered. “He won’t stop crying! Just tell me if the bears move!”
A door swung open at the other side of the habitat and two serious looking zookeepers, along with two paramedics, came running toward them past the bears. With the sound of the door opening, the two bears finally woke up, but only sat watching, curious as to what had caused the commotion.
“C’mon!” the lead zookeeper yelled. “We’re going to get you out of here!” The paramedics carried Eric between them while the zookeepers helped Jim limp along.
Once they were safely inside, the zookeeper started yelling at Jim, “What do you think you’re doing jumping down there like that? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Jim yelled right back. “No, I’m not trying to get myself killed! I’m the Deputy PG. It was my son. He jumped in. I had to get him. Now, is he going to be okay?”
One of the paramedics answered. “Looks like a broken leg, sir… Maybe a concussion… We can’t be sure. He’s unconscious.”
“Unconscious?” Jim questioned. “He was awake when I jumped down!”
Half an hour later, Eric was lying in a bed in the Emergency Wing of Mercy First Hospital. Doctor Mayett was smiling down on him when he woke up. His parents, Jim with a bandage around his ankle, were standing on the other side of the bed.
“He does have a concussion,” Dr. Mayett was saying, “and he will need a cast for that leg, but we’re not looking at anything more serious than that. All in all, I’d say he and you,” she said, looking at Jim, “were pretty lucky. Just hang tight, and we’ll have Erica take him down to get that cast put on.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Jim said.
“Thank you,” echoed Doranne.
After Dr. Mayett left, Doranne and Jim realized that Eric was awake. “Eric, are you okay?” Doranne asked.
When Eric nodded that he was okay, Jim asked, “Eric, why would you do that? Why would you jump down there? Don’t you know those animals are dangerous?”
“Hug da teddy bear,” Eric answered innocently.
2071. September 1st.
Two years later. It had been a full week since the Chinese attack and fighting had been fierce ever since. More Force personnel were being deployed every day, and Jim was supposed to find out today whether or not he would be joining the offensive. He was needed here in Base City and Protector General Willoughby had assured him that he would fight to keep him at his current post, but, ultimately, that was a decision for Force Command to make.
Once Jim’s orders came in, he decided to take the rest of the day off and go home. Landing his hovercar in the driveway, Jim saw Doranne standing on the porch, holding Roxy by the leash and watching Eric down at the curb. “Hey, what’s going on?” Jim asked as he walked up to his wife and hugged her.
Four-and-a-half-year-old Eric was hiding behind the pile of trash and recycling containers sitting on the curb. He was garbed in his Superman pajamas, complete with a Velcro cape attached to the shoulders, and was wearing the child-sized football helmet that Jim had bought him for his birthday.
“I don’t know,” Doranne said, smiling. “He’s been there for a few minutes. I thought I’d wait and see. Did you get any news?”
But before Jim could answer, an elderly man came stumbling drunkenly across the sidewalk in front of them. He looked as if he hadn’t shaved or bathed or changed his clothes in quite some time. Suddenly, four-year-old Eric jumped out of his hiding place behind the trash cans, grabbed hold of the man’s leg, and bit down. “I’m the Number One Champ!” Eric yelled, as the man lie moaning on the ground and holding his leg.
“Eric!” Doranne gasped, running down to him and taking hold of his arm.
Jim was laughing as he walked down. “No, I’m the Number One Champ!” he corrected, scooping the boy up. “You’re the Number Two Champ, and right now you need to sit here.” Jim set him down in the yard, a few feet away from the injured man.
“What’d ya hafta do that for?” the elderly man whimpered, an anguished and confused look on his face. “I was jus’ passin’ through! I wa’n’t gonna do nothin’!”
Walking back to the man, Jim reached his hand down and said, “Let me help you up.” The man looked up at Jim and reluctantly took hold of his hand. When the man was standing again, Jim pulled out his wallet. “Here,” he said, handing the man a twenty-dollar bill. “Why don’t you take this for your trouble?”
“Oh. Okay!” said the man, his eyes wide with excitement as he took the bill. “Much obliged to ya, mister.”
“No problem,” Jim said. “You go on and have a good day now. And stay outta trouble!”
“Okay! You too!” The man continued walking down the street, limping but delighted as he stared down at the evidence of his good fortune.
When he was gone, Doranne hissed, “Eric, why did you do that?”
“I don’t like that guy,” Eric answered matter-of-factly.
“You don’t even know him!” argued Doranne.
“Uh-huh!” Eric insisted. “He walks past here every day!”
Jim had started laughing again. “So that’s how you knew to wait for him, huh?”
Eric smiled up at his dad, proud of his accomplishment. “Yep. I was waitin’ for 'im.”
“Well, Eric,” his dad said, “you sure would make a good LandForceman someday, but you can’t do that again. If you don’t like someone, you come and tell your mom or me, you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” answered Eric as he gave his dad a big salute.
“Okay,” said Jim. “Now let’s go rinse your mouth out. That man was pretty dirty.”
Eric ran into the house while his parents followed. “Now, tell me,” Doranne said, “do you have to go or not?”
“Go where?” Jim asked, playing dumb.
“Jim! To China! Are they sending you to China or not? Just tell me!”
“No, babe, I’m not going to China.”
“Really?” Doranne was excited now, but she also wasn’t sure if he was still playing with her. He could say something stupid like he was going to New Korea and would just shoot at the Chinese across the border.
“Really. I asked ‘em if I could bring you and Eric along and they said no so I told ‘em to forget it; I wasn’t going.”
Then Doranne began crying and wrapped her arms around him, clinging to her husband.
2077. May 23rd.
Six and a half years later. May 23rd, May 23rd. What’s special about May 23rd? Jim wondered. He knew there was something he was supposed to do today, but he couldn’t remember what.
His mind had been a blur these last few days. The terrorist group, Allah’s Fist had sabotaged the Satellite Navigation system four nights ago, killing his brother Richie, and Richie’s wife, Paméla, along with thousands of other people across the country in the process. He couldn’t believe that Richie was dead. It didn’t seem real. His mom, Jodie, was a mess over the whole thing. Through her tears, she kept saying, “I can’t believe I have to give my son a Jewish funeral. He’s not even Jewish. He only converted so he could marry Paméla. And what kind of Mexican family is Jewish, anyway? They could at least be Catholic!” So Jim had taken the lead in arranging the funeral with Rabbi Philips.
But what was May 23rd? He pulled out his cell phone and checked the calendar. “May 23rd,” the hand-held screen read, “Danny B-day party.” Blast! Jim thought. He’s nine today. Richie and Paméla were on their way to buy him a bike when the attack happened. Should we do something? Should Doranne and I have some kind of celebration for the boy? Probably not. Probably best to skip it this year. Danny wouldn’t want a birthday party today anyway.
May 24th.
The next day. Paméla’s parents had flown in from Mamantel the night before, and after the funeral, the family was having a reception at the Slate’s house. Jodie was sitting with Gabriela on the couch in the living room. They were holding each other’s hands as the endless line of people came to them and offered their condolences. Doranne and Peggy were in the kitchen, preparing snack trays for the visitors.
Jim and Roberto had escaped to the garage. “I’m no good at these things,” Jim said, pulling two beers out of a mini fridge and handing one to Roberto.
Twisting the top off the beer, Roberto said, “Tell me, Jim; how did it happen? How did those terrorists do it this time?”
“Blast! I don’t know. You know as much as I do. They must’ve hacked into the system at the Transportation Department and reprogrammed some of the cars to stop dead. Cold, I mean,” to put things a little more delicately. “Then, I guess they took off the safety that would have made the other cars stop. LandForce is investigating it, of course, but I don’t have anything to do with that. Transportation Department’s based all the way in Washington.”
Roberto took another swig of his beer. “These things never happened when I was Sherriff. But that was a long time ago. We didn’t have automated cars back then.”
“It’s different now,” Jim agreed.
“At least the war’s over.”
Jim nodded. “We got the ship.”
Roberto could have just let the conversation die down at that point. He could have sat there and drank his beer and kept quiet. But he had a little more he wanted to say about the war. “Was it worth it?” he asked.
Jim looked at him. He knew where this was going. “Of course, it was worth it. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Well, look at all those people that died, Melody’s mom, among them. And for what? If it really is an alien ship, which it’s probably not, who knows if you’ll ever be able to use it? You should’ve let the Chinese keep it.”
“Why? So they could use it against us?”
Roberto laughed and shook his head. “Last I heard, the Chinese weren’t starting too many wars.”
“They started this one! They attacked us, remember? That’s how Bethany died!”
“Because the U.S. tried to steal their secret,” Roberto said.
Jim nodded reluctantly. He knew that was true, but he didn’t like admitting it. “So you’re saying that the U.S. was wrong, that we were the ones responsible for the war?”
“And you won the war. I’m only wondering why you can’t leave well enough alone. Let someone else have something for once.”
Jim couldn’t think of anything else to say. Any other argument he offered at this point would sound selfish toward his own country. But, at the same time, he was a Forceman. He was supposed to look out for the good of his country. That was his job.
After most of the people had gone, Doranne opened the sliding glass door, looking for the kids. The swing-set and the backyard were empty. She looked in the basement playroom. The kids weren’t there, either. Doranne opened the garage door. Some more men had joined Jim and Roberto. “Jim, have you seen the kids?” she asked.
“No. Why?”
“Well, I told them they could go outside and play – they didn’t want to be in here for this – but now I can’t find them.” None of the men had any idea where the kids were so she shut the door and continued her search.
She found Melody upstairs, crying with Peggy. It looked as though they had been playing a card game, but now Melody was sobbing and saying, “I can’t even remember what she sounded like. I can’t hear her voice.”
“Shhh,” Peggy comforted, stroking the girl’s long, auburn hair. “You were only four when your mom died. You can’t expect yourself to remember stuff like that. I have some recordings that I’ll give you so you can see hear.”
Doranne, listening, took a deep breath. Her heart went out to Melody. The loss of her dad and Paméla had understandably reminded her of Bethany’s death. She let the girl cry with Peggy for a moment longer but then felt that she needed to get back to her search for Eric and Danny. Stepping into the room, she said softly, “Melody, honey, do you know where your brother and cousin are?”
Melody looked up and wiped her eyes. “They took Roxy for a walk,” she answered. “Down in the woods.”
“Okay,” Doranne said, turning around and walking back down the stairs. She again opened the sliding glass door and stepped out. She walked past the swing-set and down the hill. At the edge of the Slate’s property began a small, forested area. It was about a half-mile deep, and it stretched all the way across the back of the neighborhood, creating a barrier between it and the Krissman farm behind it. When she reached the first line of trees, she called out, “Danny! Eric! Come on!”
Every few seconds, she would call out again and then listen, but she didn’t hear anything. After a few minutes, she got worried and walked back up to the house.
Jim was waiting for her in the kitchen. “Where have you been?” he asked with a note of accusation in his voice. “People are leaving, and they wanted to say good-bye.”
“So, what? They had to come find you instead?” she shot back.
Jim didn’t say anything. He only stared at her.
Then, softening, she said, “Jim, I can’t find the boys. Melody said they took Roxy down in the woods, but I can’t find them.”
“You go down there and call for them?”
“Yes, I called for them!” The softness was suddenly gone again.
Gabriela walked in with Jodie. “Something wrong?” Jodie asked.
“I can’t find the kids,” Doranne informed them.
“Oh,” Grandma Shore said, worriedly.
“Jim sighed. “Don’t worry. I’ll go look for ‘em.”
“I’m coming too,” announced Gabriela.
“You don’t have to,” Jim said. “It’ll probably just take me a minute.”
“I do believe I want to,” Gabriela insisted. And so, a few minutes later, Jim, Roberto, Gabriela, and Grandma Jodie started their search party in the woods, calling out for the two boys, while Doranne, Peggy, and Melody stayed and waited to see if Danny and Eric would show back up at the house.
Meanwhile, deep in the woods, Danny was stripping off his suit-jacket. He was getting hot doing all this walking. He looked down at his feet and saw that he was getting muddy too. He had dirt all over his dress shoes and up onto his pants. If his mom were still alive, she would’ve killed him for messing up his suit like this. And he was tired of walking. More than that, he didn’t know where he was anymore. It seemed as if they had been walking for hours. “Do you know where we’re going?” he asked Eric.
Eric turned around. He was the one in front, holding Roxy’s leash. “No. I told you; we’re going wherever Roxy leads us! Eventually, when we’re done exploring, she’ll lead us back home.”
“We should go back now,” Danny said.
“Can’t.”
“Why not?”
“‘Cause I don’t know where it is. I’ve never been this far.”
“Eric, these are your woods. You said you play down here all the time.”
“I do. But I don’t think I’ve seen this part. We just have to wait until Roxy’s ready.”
“Ugh!” Danny groaned in frustration. Then, he remembered what one of his teachers in school had taught him. Mr. Allen had said that if you kept walking in one direction, you could be sure you weren’t going in circles, so would eventually get somewhere. Making up his mind to follow Mr. Allen’s advice instead of trusting Roxy’s leading anymore, Danny said, “I’m going this way.” And he began walking toward his right.
“What? Danny!” Eric yelled, turning to follow him. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to walk this way until I find a road or something. Or somebody’s yard.”
Twenty minutes later, the two boys and the dog emerged from the woods. They saw a playground and a brick building ahead of them. “Oh! I know where we are,” Eric exclaimed.
“Where?” Danny asked.
“That’s my school.”
“Okay. Well, let’s go home, then.”
“The road’s out in front.”
The two boys, Roxy beside them, ran around to the front of the building and started walking up the road toward Eric’s neighborhood. After they had walked past a few houses, Eric glanced behind him. “Get down!” he yelled.
“What?” Danny asked, surprised to see Eric hugging the ground.
“Just get down!” Eric ordered again.
Danny got down on his stomach and looked back down the road. All he saw was a yellow pick-up truck. “What’s the matter?” he asked.
“It’s the Katz’!” Eric hissed. “My friend, Drew’s, parents’. They’re probably looking for us.”
“Why?” Danny asked, but he already knew the answer. He and Eric had been gone a long time. Too long.
They watched as the yellow truck slowed and then stopped right in front of where they were. “Eric!” a man’s voice boomed.
“Eric!” a woman’s voice called immediately after. “You get up, right now, mister!”
Eric got up as the man’s truck door slammed behind him. The man walked over to him and said, “What do you think you’re doing? Trying to hide from me?”
“I thought I was in trouble,” Eric mumbled, looking down at his muddy shoes.
“Well, that’s up to your parents to decide. Now, get in the back of the truck there. Your mom called and said they were looking for you.”
Eric got into the truck bed, followed mechanically by Danny and excitedly by Roxy. They heard the man in the driver’s seat tell the vehicle “Load,” which meant he wanted the satellite system to drive them slowly along because something was in the bed of the truck and could fly out if they went at normal, automatic speed.
Neither Danny nor Eric said anything the whole way home.
When the Katz dropped them off, it was Doranne and Grandma Shore who came to the door. “Oh, thank you, Tony! Thank you, Cindy!” Doranne said as the Katz’ left. Then, turning to the boys, she exclaimed, “Where have you two been? We were worried sick! And look at your suits!”
Neither of the boys answered. They knew that anything they said could and would be used against them.
“Boys!” Jim barked. He had been sitting in his chair in the living room, waiting for them to come in. “Come here!”
Danny and Eric silently, cautiously, approached the Deputy. “Eric,” Jim said, staring the boys in the face, his teeth clenched, “do you know where Grandma Gabriela is?”
Eric’s brows furrowed. He had no idea where ‘Grandma Gabriela’ was. She wasn’t even his Grandma. She was Danny and Melody’s. “No,” he answered honestly.
“She’s at the hospital!” Jim yelled, his teeth still clenched. Danny wondered how Uncle Jim could talk with his mouth like that, but he wondered even more what had happened to Grandma. “She got bee stings!” Jim continued. “We all had to go traipsing through the woods after you, and she got bee stings! She’s allergic to bees! Did you know that? Now, come here!” Jim ordered, grabbing the boy and turning him over his knee.
Eric was ten. He was a little old for spankings, but he didn’t want to tell his dad that at the moment, so he took the swats. After the first one, though, Eric realized how much power his dad was putting into those swings! It stung. Bad. When it was over, Jim pushed Eric away and reached for Danny.
As Jim began spanking Danny, Doranne cried out, “Jim! Don’t you dare! That boy’s been through enough without you beating on him!”
Jim looked up and saw that Doranne was crying. “Aw, Doranne, I’m not doing anything that his father wouldn’t’ve done! I’m just trying to…aw, blast it!” And Jim began to cry too. He had not cried since he heard the news of his brother’s death.
Danny, still on Jim’s lap, began crying. Melody, who had come downstairs when she heard the boys come in, began crying.
Jim looked over at Melody and then down at Danny, stretched across his lap, backside up, and he began to laugh. “Come here,” he told Melody. He stood Danny up and hugged him. Melody came over, and he hugged her too.
They were all crying together as Doranne, Peggy, Grandma Shore, Eric, and Roxy looked on. Then, Jim pulled back and looked first into Danny’s eyes and then into Melody’s. “You’re both going to live with us now, okay?” Then he looked past the kids to Doranne. “Okay?” he asked. Doranne smiled wide and nodded as a fresh batch of tears rolled down her cheeks. She came over, and the whole family embraced again.
Peggy had thought that she would adopt Melody herself now that Richie had died, but she knew it would be good for Melody to stay with Danny. The two siblings needed each other, and so Peggy decided, that just as she had helped Jim and Doranne adopt Eric, so now she would help them adopt Danny and Melody.
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