by T E Stouyer
“We should get back,” Doc finally said.
“You go on ahead,” Kincade told him. “I’ll be up in a minute.”
“All right,” Doc said. “I guess, I’ll see you in a bit.” He turned around and started to walk away.
Kincade looked on as his comrade headed for the park’s exit. But as Doc passed through the gate in the small fence and set foot on the curb, Kincade called out to him. “Hey, Doc!”
Doc Chen turned his head and shouted back. “Yeah?”
“I think I’m starting to see why the guys sometimes listen to you more than they listen to me. You’re kind of wise for your age.”
“That’s not why they listen to me,” Doc replied.
“No? Why, then?”
“It’s because I’m better looking!”
Kincade shook his head and smiled as he watched his friend cross the road and wave at him without looking back.
Chapter 6 – Too Close
Jonathan Kincade re-entered the apartment through the main door using the spare key Professor Fournier had given him. He had only stayed in the park another fifteen minutes or so after Doc had left. A man standing alone in the dark late at night might attract the wrong kind of attention. Especially in this kind of quiet, residential neighborhood. If a police patrol had happened to pass by, they would have almost certainly checked him out. Not that he had thought it was likely but, why take the chance?
He walked into the living room, and immediately noticed that only two of the three window shutters were down. The professor must have forgotten to close the last one, he thought to himself.
He went over to the panel in the corner, and was about to press the button to lower the third window shutter when he spotted a figure at the far end of the balcony. Startled, he instinctively drew his gun. It was a soldier’s reflex. The reaction of a combat veteran who had too often been surprised by enemies lurking in the darkness as they waited for the right moment to strike.
But as Kincade examined the silhouette on the other side of the glass window, he soon realized who it was. He shook his head and put away his weapon. I guess I’m still a little on edge, he thought.
He slid the tall window open and stepped out onto the balcony.
Arianne was standing there alone, leaning forward with her elbows placed against the railings. She turned her head and watched Kincade as he approached. “Did you almost shoot me, just now?” she asked.
“Well, there’re lots of weirdoes roaming the streets these days,” Kincade joked. “Stalkers and whatnot. You can never be too careful.”
“Is that so?” she said, pretending to be offended.
“Oh, yeah. You’d be surprised.”
“And am I one of those … weird people, then?”
“Hmm, that’s a good question. I don’t know. I’m still fifty-fifty on that one.”
Arianne chuckled. “I see.”
“So, what are you doing out here?”
“Just getting some fresh air. I like being outside. We all do. We weren’t allowed to go out very often when we were at the Arc compound. Although, when our father was there, he and I would sometimes go into the yard at night. We would lay on the grass for hours, and just stare at the stars. I miss that.” Arianne’s voice always resonated with a trace of nostalgia when she spoke about her father. An amalgam of the joyful memories of the time she had spent with him and of the sadness she felt at having lost him so soon. She turned her head back towards the horizon, lifted her chin and closed her eyes, and let the cool air fill her lungs.
Kincade had grown to like this side of her. He liked how much she appreciated the simple things. The kind of things most people took for granted. “By the way,” he said. “I’m sorry about earlier. Back in your room. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. You knew I was there, didn’t you?”
She straightened up and looked at him. “Yes, I was aware. I’m sorry, too. If Luce had seen you, she would have gotten up. You know how she always tries to act like a grown-up in front of other people. I was trying to get her to sleep. That’s why I didn’t say anything.”
“It’s fine. I’m the one who should be apologizing.”
Arianne smiled, and then once again turned towards the horizon as she leaned against the balcony railings. “So, what have you decided?” she asked.
“Decided? About what?”
“In light of recent events, I’m guessing you’ve re-considered ‘the Leicester option’. No pun intended. Having said that, I still don’t believe you’d be willing to trade our freedom in the hopes of securing your own. Which leaves you with only one viable alternative: the data card in exchange for a new agreement with Leicester. I assume that’s what Hulin wanted to discuss with you?”
Kincade didn’t reply. He just stood there round-eyed and mouth gaping. But no words came out. He had been stunned into silence. She had caught him completely off-guard. Not only by her insight, but also by her bluntness.
Arianne, in contrast, appeared completely relaxed. She kept gazing at horizon with a detached expression, almost like she was daydreaming. There had been no accusation in her voice. No blame. No indignation. She had sounded like someone who was merely making an observation.
“From what I’ve gathered about Hulin,” she continued. “I’d say he’s a very practical man. I expect he impressed upon you the necessity of having to consider this option. I was wondering if you had made a decision, yet.”
Kincade’s astonishment grew with every word she uttered. “How did you …? Were you watching us from up here?”
“No. I haven’t been out on the balcony for that long. But I saw Hulin walk back in, a few minutes ago, when I was coming out of my room. And I also saw you crossing the street on your way back just now. That’s how I knew the two of you had been outside together, presumably so you could talk in private. But Hulin returned alone, while you stayed behind. And now that you’re back, you have this troubled look on your face. All of this, tells me your conversation has left you feeling … disturbed. So much so, you needed some time alone to think. The rest was easy to guess.”
Easy to guess? Kincade said to himself. ‘Easy’ was not the word he would have used to describe what she had just done. Quite the opposite. He thought it was an astonishing display of deduction and intuition. It would have been one thing for Arianne to surmise the gist of his conversation with Doc. But her conclusions were so specific, and so accurate, that for a moment, Kincade even wondered if she hadn’t been hiding behind one of the trees in the park, doing some eavesdropping of her own. Then he remembered it wasn’t the first time he had seen Arianne, or Lucielle, demonstrate an uncanny ability to accurately describe, as though they had witnessed them first hand, events that they should not be expected to know anything about.
But there was a clear difference between the two sisters.
In a way, Lucielle’s gift allowed her to peer into the future. She found links between seemingly unrelated pieces of information and then used them to identify patterns, which enabled her to predict the most likely outcomes.
But with Arianne, it was about uncovering the past. She didn’t rely on statistics, or make analyses. She didn’t follow the cold and inflexible path of numbers and data to arrive at her conclusions. Her approach was more personal. She needed to look into a person’s eyes, to talk to them. Then, she would somehow sense their intentions, motivations, worries, or anything else that could be driving them. Of course, you could always put up a mental barrier and be very careful what you said around her. But you couldn’t allow yourself a single unguarded moment in her presence. Her intuition and empathic senses were so sharp that they could take advantage of the slightest of crack in that barrier.
With Kincade standing there and staring at her in silence with a weird look on his face, Arianne began to feel uneasy.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I understand if you don’t want to talk about it. You and your team have already paid a high price for helping us. So, if at any point you feel you have n
o choice but to—”
“Let me stop you right there,” Kincade said, sounding a lot more composed now. “I want to help you guys, really. But like I told you before, I can’t do it if it means throwing Rock under a bus. No pun intended.”
“No, of course not.”
“Look, you’re right about what Doc said to me. And I’ve been racking my brain trying to find a better solution. But so far, I can’t think of one.”
“What if there was another solution? Would you still want to try it, even after everything that’s happened?”
Kincade gave her a searching look. “Did you figure out a way for everyone to get what they want?”
“I think so … maybe,” she said with a pensive frown. “I haven’t quite worked out how to pull it off, yet. But either way, as long as we continue searching for the card, we’ll probably end up facing Damien and the others. And if that happens … let’s just say, I don’t like our chances.” She turned to him with a wry smile. “You know, Nate. You might be better off striking that deal with Leicester, after all.”
“There you go again, trying to convince me to flip sides. Do you want me to handcuff you?” he asked jokingly. But then, he promptly raised his hands in front of him and said, “Oops! That didn’t sound right. I didn’t … I mean, I wasn’t trying to insinuate … you know?”
Arianne tilted her head to the side and studied him with keen interest. She had no idea why he looked so uncomfortable, all of a sudden.
At first, Kincade was surprised by her bemused expression. He wondered if she was pretending not to understand because she was embarrassed. But then it occurred to him she wasn’t pretending. Of course she wouldn’t think about that. Remember where she’s been all this time, you idiot, he said to himself.
“Clearly, I’m missing something,” she said, searching for a hint on his face.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Kincade coyly replied.
“Oh, come on, tell me. What is it?”
“Nothing. Really. Oh, and erm … by the way, you may have been right about what Doc told me, but you should know he also said we should stick with you guys until this whole business is done.”
“Now you’re just trying to change the subject,” Arianne said.
“No, that’s not it. I just thought it was important for you to know how he really feels.”
“Did Hulin really say that?”
“Absolutely. He can come off as cold and calculating at times, but deep down, he’s a good guy. They all are.”
“Yes, they are,” she said. “And you’re okay, too … Kind of,” she added with a teasing smile.
“Kind of? Wow! Please, tone down the praise, you’re gonna make me blush.”
Arianne laughed.
Kincade moved closer to her, and said in a more serious tone. “You know, there was one more thing Doc said to me.”
“Really? what was it?”
“He accused me of losing my objectivity.”
She gave him a blank stare.
“He thinks I’m getting too close,” Kincade explained.
“Too close to what?” she asked.
“You.”
This time, it was Arianne who was caught off guard. She felt her heart skip a beat as her pulse spiked. She thought she should say something in response, but for some reason the scrambled words inside her head refused to line up to form proper sentences. In the end, the only sound that found its way out was a faint, “Oh.”
Arianne had always been extremely self-aware. She usually had a pretty good idea what was going on inside both her mind and her body. But not this time. This feeling was completely unfamiliar. She wasn’t at all sure how she should react. In fact, she wasn’t even sure how she wanted to react.
Her indecisiveness lasted a moment. But eventually, she steadied herself again and focused on Kincade. He hadn’t moved or said anything else. She realized he had sensed her nervousness, and was doing his best not to spook her further. He simply gazed at her with his cool and confident smile.
“Are you? getting too close?” she asked him.
“Hmm, that depends. For instance, right now, I think there’s a reasonable distance between us.”
“Yes, I agree,” she said. “Very reasonable.”
He took another step towards her. “This, however, could possibly raise a few eyebrows,” he said, faking a certain concern.
A faint smile escaped her. Then she also took a step closer to him. “And what about this?” she asked.
They were so close now, each one could see their own reflection in the other’s eyes.
“Oh, now this,” Kincade said with feigned indignation. “This is completely unacceptable. I can almost hear the alarm bells going off.”
They both smiled. But neither of them said another word.
Kincade held her in his gaze for a while as she peered back into his pupils with pulsating anticipation. Until, finally, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers.
At that same moment, the moon managed to breach the heavy blanket of clouds covering the night sky. Its bright light briefly illuminated the balcony, before once again giving way to the shadows.
But neither Kincade nor Arianne noticed it.
The world around them had completely faded away as they shared a lingering and passionate kiss.
Chapter 7 – Playing Chess
It was almost 10 o’clock when Arianne finally willed herself out of bed on the following morning. She was more tired than she’d realized, and her body was still aching from her fight with Damien. But she had been awake for over half an hour now. It was time to get up.
After taking a shower, Arianne slipped into a pair of black jeans and put on a long-sleeve green top. Then, like every morning, her first thought was to find out what Lucielle was doing. Earlier, when she had first opened her eyes, Arianne had rolled around to check the other side of the bed, only to find her sister had already left the room. It wasn’t that Arianne had a specific reason to look for Lucielle. She simply wanted to know where the young girl was. It was like an itch she had scratch. A feeling not dissimilar to the instinct of a parent whose first impulse every time they wake up is to ascertain their child’s whereabouts.
First, Arianne went to check the living room.
But it turned out that Ashrem and Marie were the only two people there. The young man was watching an international news channel on the television, while Marie’s attention was entirely focused on the notebook she was holding. The detective had written down the clues from the pendant, and was scribbling on the pages, trying to figure out what it all meant. Neither of them noticed the young woman standing in the doorway.
Not wanting to disturb them, Arianne continued on her way and decided to try the kitchen next. But as she neared the door of the small passageway connecting the entrance hall to the kitchen, Kincade and Sonar came out, each one holding a cup.
Arianne met Kincade’s gaze for an awkward moment.
“Good morning, Nate!” she said, trying to sound natural.
They had both agreed to forget about what had happened on the previous night. Not that they thought it had been a mistake. At this point, it would have been foolish to try to deny the emotional and physical attraction each one felt for the other. But they knew it wouldn’t be wise to act on those feelings. Such a big change in their relationship would only complicate matters even further. The best thing for them right now was to continue as allies. As friends.
“Morning!” Kincade replied. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yes, and you?”
“Sure.”
Sonar turned to his comrade with a frown on his face. “How come you never ask me how I’ve slept?”
Kincade eyed the redhead for a good three seconds, but said nothing.
“Hey, I’m just saying,” Sonar insisted. “How about showing your bros a little love, from time to time?”
Arianne smiled at the redhead and greeted him, “Good morning, Sean.”
“Go
od morning, gorgeous,” Sonar replied.
“Did you sleep well?” she asked him.
“Yes, thank you very much. I’m glad someone wants to know,” he added, glancing at his comrade.
Kincade ignored him, and said to Arianne, “We just made coffee. There’s more in the kitchen if you’d like some.”
“No, thanks,” she said.
“Oh, that’s right. You prefer tea … with honey.”
“Yes. You remembered.”
Sonar shot another perplexed look at his comrade. “How come you never ask me how I like my coffee?”
This time Kincade had had enough. He glowered at the redhead and said, “Sonar.”
“Yeah?”
“Go away.”
“OK, OK. I’m going, I’m going,” Sonar complained as he headed into the living room.
Kincade shook his head and let out a heavy sigh. “Sometimes I can’t tell who’s worse, him or Rock.”
Arianne’s smile widened. “I like them both. I think they’re … interesting.”
“Yeah, interesting’s one way to put it, all right. By the way, I meant to ask you something?”
“Yes?”
“What’s the deal with you guys? You told us you thought there was something more to the clues from that necklace, something you weren’t seeing yet.”
“That’s right,” Arianne confirmed. “I’m certain of it.”
“Well, you guys don’t seem to be in too much of a hurry to find out what it is.”
She tilted her head. “What makes you say that?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Yesterday, after the rest of you went to bed, Doc and I spent hours looking over that freaking pendant and trying to figure out those riddles. And that German lady has done nothing else since she woke up this morning. But you guys … none of you have so much as mentioned the clues since we all looked at them together. What’s that about?”
