by D S Kane
As she followed, her life in the tunnels flashed through her. What she’d done to survive was so much simpler that this life Cassie offered her. She’d been a hooker. So easy. Being a nice girl was harder. Teachers who taunted her, attractive boys who offered help and wanted nothing in return.
He led her under the aluminum grandstands and dropped his jacket on the grass, forming a crude pillow. He lay down with his head on it and beckoned her.
Ann remained standing, her face blank but staring through him. She made a decision, and it felt as final as a jump off the ledge of a high building. But for her, it had become as natural as breathing. She felt a tugging awareness that what she was about to do wasn’t what she should, and she banished the thought. She pulled up her sweatshirt and tugged her bra up to expose her breasts. “So, Charles, will you do my homework for me?”
When the school janitor saw them under the bleachers, he took out his cell phone and turned their sex into a small-screen movie. He made a copy and brought it to the school principal. Then he posted other copies on YouTube, Metacafe, and Facebook.
The next morning, Ann waited her turn with Charles in the annex outside the principal’s office. He showed them the video of their sex. “Young lady, we’ve thrown students out of here for much less. I haven’t decided yet what to do about this.” Ann knew it was because Cassie had contributed money to the school. The principal said, “But I will tell your parents. And I will give you detention for the next two months. Both of you. Now get out of my office!”
She ran from the office, ignoring Charles who followed, calling after her. She wiped the tears forming in her eyes and climbed the stairs. She heard snickers as she passed others in the hallway. Some pointed fingers at her and whispered to each other.
She ignored the insults. Hurrying, she was late for her next class. She sat in a classroom listening to world history being taught by Doris Leech, a middle-aged bitch on steroids.
Ann watched Leech distribute the graded tests. She’d had spent hours covering the six weeks of material she’d missed since the start of the school year. She felt nervous about her first test in a new school. She’d missed an entire year of school, plus a bit more, while living in the tunnels as one of the homeless.
Ann’s reading skills had been deficient before Cassie retrieved her from the tunnels. Her math skills were even worse. But her escapade with Charles might have screwed up her chance at a new start. She saw her score on the test as her only chance to atone. She was determined not to fail.
Ms. Leech handed the test to her, but when Ann reached for it, Leech wouldn’t let go of it. Ann looked up and found Leech staring at her. In a quiet voice just above a whisper, Leech said, “Please stay after class and see me. I have something to say to you.”
Ann stared at the test, wide eyed. She saw red marks everywhere on the paper. Her heart sank.
When the period bell sounded, she sat in the emptying classroom and waited for Leech to approach. The teacher walked to her desk, her head shaking. “You seem to be learning fast. My guess is that without any help, you might get to a C level by the end of this year. But that’s not good enough. I know you’re smarter than that. All you need is a tutor after school at least two days a week. I’ll call your mother and set it up.”
Ann nodded, imagining her world falling apart. She thought, maybe Cassie will send me back to the tunnels. She asked Leech, “What happens next?”
And as Leech told her, “A tutor in English, with a concentration in reading speed and comprehension. Three times a week, afternoons in the school cafeteria where I can watch you. Oh, and one in math, two afternoons on alternating days.” Ann’s heart sank.
On her way to her next class, Charles approached. “Hi, Ann. Sorry about the mess. I’d like to make it up to you. Can we still be friends?”
Ann looked at him and frowned, now embarrassed by having chosen to expose her body to him, and still consumed with her immediate problem: her grades. “Yeah, sure. Not doing well right now. Can’t seem to do anything right. Leach just dissed me. Seems I don’t know English well enough to please her ugly ass.”
“Oh. Sorry about that. Do you have a tutor?”
“No, but I guess this grade means I will soon.” She flashed the test.
“Well I have solid As in English. I could tutor you.”
For just a second, the year she’d spent homeless flashed again through her mind. And as she looked into his eyes, the full horror of what she’d done just yesterday returned to her as if it were happening now. She shook her head, her entire body also shaking. She wondered what would happen while he tutored her. “I think not, but thanks anyway.” She turned away from him, walked away fast, remembering how Cassie had killed so easily. She wondered how to tell Cassie what she’d done with Charles. And, of course, her grades. She was in shit over her head now. What punishments would Cassie levy against her?
After the school day ended, Ann entered at the back door of the house and silently took her time walking up the stairs to her room. She prayed Ms. Leech hadn’t yet called Cassie to arrange their parent-teacher meeting, so she could break the bad news first. She still hadn’t decided what to tell Cassie about having sex with Charles. As she passed a mirror, she stared into it and saw her fear reflected back.
Cassie had made such a big deal about getting Ann into this school. She was supposed to perform but she’d failed. Her knowledge of history on the test got her an A+. But her English composition skills hadn’t come close to passing. The composite result was a C-. She worried how she could ever compensate for missing a year from school. She dismissed her attempt to seduce Charles; it was just something she used to do. But never again.
In the back of her mind, she knew Cassie was a dangerous woman. Did Ann deserve to be murdered? She could almost visualize Cassie reacting to her provocative behavior with Charles by bare-handedly snapping her neck. Or listening to the teacher saying how stupid her daughter was, and murdering both the teacher and Ann with her bare hands. Ann gulped. Well, this is just my overactive imagination, she thought, tumbling into the chair at the desk in her bedroom. She removed her notebook computer from her backpack and popped open the lid. She looked at the math homework.
Ann brooded about the detention she’d earned from having sex, trading her body for grades with Charles Breckenridge. Tears formed at the corners of her eyes. How would she tell Cassie all the truth? There were rumors flying around the school. She knew now what she’d done was wrong. I hate that school. Shit!
Lee paced the floor, brandishing the email incident report from the school’s principal. “She had sex at school. In a public place. What have we gotten ourselves into? What else is there she does that’s…that’s um, that’s—”
Cassie stared away, at the floor. “You mean how far from normal is she?”
Lee agreed, arms akimbo. “It’s not a joke, sweetie. You think you can correct this?” He waved one of his hands for emphasis.
Cassie shook her head, “Lee, I don’t know how damaged she is. But she has no malicious intent. When you were in high school, didn’t you wolf around with the girls there?”
She thought about how Ann survived in the tunnels for so many months without any adult supervision. How Ann had been raped. Just as Cassie had. But Cassie had parents who had taught her how to behave. Was it too late for her to teach Ann?
She faced him. “Sweetie, she’s had no adults to teach her acceptable behavior for a long time. Homeless people didn’t give her a role model. She sold her body to survive. You and I have to teach her what’s normal.”
His face reddened. “Cassie, one thing you should realize by now is we aren’t the least bit normal. How many parents have worked in covert ops, lied, grifted, and killed? We both have. How many have been mass murderers like you?” He waved his arms. “Let him or her who is without sin cast the first stone. Baby, it ain’t you and it ain’t me.”
He shook his head. “Cassie, she knows more about sex than we do. Yes, she fucked t
o make the money to survive. From what I can tell, she’s never going to be even close to normal.”
Cassie took a deep breath. Lee might be right. “Okay. But she’s smart. We can try to show her what normal is. We have to teach her to keep her behavior under control. It’s not impossible, and that’s what the definition of parenthood is. So talk to her. She’s your daughter too.”
He stared back. His breathing became more even. “So, what do you want me say? What should I teach her?” He’d stopped shouting now. “I mean, what we’ve done together this last year shows we don’t have an iota of human decency. We’re not normal. Not qualified to be parents. What could she learn from me?”
Cassie took a deep breath. “Lee, teach her something that you have expertise in. Something helpful, something that relates to what we do. We may be killers but I believe we still have shreds of moral integrity.”
Lee’s expression showed that the concept mystified him. “Moral integrity, yeah.” Then very slowly, he crooked a smile. “Uh, I don’t know, but, well, maybe I have an idea.”
Cassie had always thought having a family would be easy, but now, not so much. She still hadn’t talked with her daughter about sex and promiscuity. And after all, it was natural for Ann; she spent the better part of the year as a whore. Cassie cursed silently; she’d been too late retrieving the young woman from the tunnels and now she’d have to find some way to solve this problem.
She sat at the desk downstairs in the den with her head in her hands. As for Ann’s problem with school grades, that could easily be handled. She believed Ann was bright and just needed a chance. I’ll hire a good tutor.
But she couldn’t stop thinking about Ann’s promiscuity. The teen was too young for sex. Cassie wanted, more than anything, to go away somewhere by herself. Did everything always have to be so difficult? She needed to find a way to fix Ann. She lay in bed unable to sleep and turned her head to see the radio clock: 3:14 a.m. She left the bed and drew her bathrobe around her. Pacing the floor of the bedroom, she thought. I now have a new trouble, not as black-and-white as hunting terrorists. And I’m exhausted. Lee lay sleeping; she envied his obliviousness.
She really, really needed a vacation. What was it now, two years since her last one? No, it’s almost three years. Shit.
She’d been trained to stay focused, confining her emotions only when they couldn’t interfere with her completion of a mission. But now those feelings were popping out into her life, exacerbating her problems and her indecision about how to care for her teenager. And she was even more alarmed that Lee, who’d not received her training, would continue to react like Lee always did.
She wondered what her parents would do if she had behaved like Ann. She sorely missed them. Their lives had been a bit like hers, having been so closely associated with the KGB in the Soviet Union before her birth. They’d been trained to confine their feelings and keep them from derailing their plans, just like Cassie. They might know how former covert agents should handle parenthood. She knew she didn’t have a clue.
At least Lee had stumbled onto a way he might bond with Ann, so that was possible. The Washington gun club he’d proposed taking Ann to wasn’t inappropriate for a family in covert services.
Cassie remembered her promises to teach Ann to surf, to show her the better things in life.
Not able to sleep, she walked to the computer to see if she had any emails waiting. There was one, from Sanji Morikono. She had no clue who this was. Junk email? But the subject line was “Request for Proposal: Security Audit.” She opened the message:
Dear Swiftshadow Consulting Group,
I am the CEO of the Wailea Spa and Hotel in Maui. Recently, we have had several breaches in physical security and our computers were also hacked. We aren’t sure, but believe the hacker may have compromised the credit cards of our customers. Since we are the vacation place of choice for royalty and celebrities, our business need is urgent. Paparazzi interest in our guests has always been a problem. But when hackers find their reservations, and photographers break into our “secure” environment within the exclusive Nippon Tower, we worry for guest safety.
Please submit a proposal. To facilitate the process, schedule an onsite visit at your earliest convenience. You will be our guest, staying in our two magnificent suites on the top floor of the Nippon Tower. You will stay in the suites for two weeks, to personally experience our current level of security. While there, you can complete your proposal. Then, if selected as our vendor, you can return and commence the engagement.
We require your CEO as well as up to six specialists from your firm, to evaluate our computer vulnerability and physical security.
Note that we are sending RFP’s to several competitors.
Sincerely,
Sanji Morikono.
It was then she was rocked by the answer. Something so simple; she should have thought of it sooner. She smiled and removed the robe. Tossed it on a chair in the bedroom and dropped back into bed. In seconds she was asleep.
Chapter Twelve
October 7, 6:24 a.m.
220 East Kirke Street, Chevy Chase, Maryland
In the early morning light, Ann sat at the kitchen table, preparing to leave for school. She hadn’t found the courage to tell Cassie about either of her problems with school. She wasn’t sure whether the school had contacted Cassie yet, but knew she was running out of time.
She realized that if confessed now, at least she’d have an excuse to leave swiftly before Cassie had the time to digest the news and respond. Ann stared at the slice of toast she held. As if the kitten realized Ann’s state, it jumped into her lap and demanded to be petted. Ann smiled, her first of the day. At least Gizmo was there for her.
When she entered the kitchen, Cassie seemed troubled by something and Ann thought that maybe it was too late. She needed to do something now or risk consequences she couldn’t imagine.
Ann closed her eyes and focused, trying to find the confidence to speak, but just as her lips began to form the words, Cassie interrupted and said, “Ann, remember how I told you I’d teach you how to surf?”
Ann replied, “Uh huh. Listen, I have something bad to tell you.”
“Huh? What bad thing?”
“My teacher thinks I need a reading tutor. She wants to tell you this face-to-face.” Ann frowned.
Cassie smiled as if she already knew this. “Okay. I’ll get you a tutor.” Then she looked up from her coffee cup and stared into Ann’s eyes. “Is there any other bad news for me?”
Ann was sure now she knew about Charles. It was time to confess her other nasty act. Cautiously, she answered, “Yes. I was caught having sex with a boy under the school’s grandstands. The janitor saw us and told the principal. I have detention forever. This place has too many rules. When I did that in the tunnels it wasn’t bad.”
Cassie started to speak but her lips froze for a few seconds, and Ann prepared for the worst. “Ann, I know this is a big change for you. You have to understand that there are rules everywhere, some easier to follow than others. But, we’re lucky they didn’t kick you out of school. And even if you want to have sex with someone, being careless can get you pregnant or even worse, get you some terrible disease. It’d be better if you didn’t do it again. But, just in case, I’ll take you to a doctor and get you birth control pills and sex education. The tunnels are a barbaric place. It’s different here. In the normal world, there are standards for behavior. If you feel uncertain about whether it’s okay to do something, ask Lee or me. Are you okay with this? Will you do as I say?”
Ann was amazed that there would be no punishment. She could feel relief showing on her face. “Yes. Thanks. You’ll have to meet with Ms. Leech about my school performance. But do I have to do detention?”
“Yes, you do. It’s punishment for doing what you did. You need to remember this when you’re about to do something that can get you in trouble. But since the school is punishing you, I won’t”
Ann smiled back, showi
ng her sense of relief. And Gizmo purred as if she could sense Ann’s relief.
Cassie nodded. “Okay. I’ll call the school and set it up. Don’t worry. You’re smart. This’ll be a piece of cake for you.”
Ann nodded. “Okay. There are just so many new things I need to understand. Will I be okay?”
Cassie saw the concern on her face. “Surely, you must know that Lee and I knew everything before you spoke up. The school sent me an email incident report late yesterday. And even if they hadn’t, remember, Lee and I are spies, experts in detecting what’s hidden. So it doesn’t pay to hide what you do. Now, back to my question. Do you want to learn to surf?”
Ann felt confused at the pace at which the conversation had changed. “Well, yes. Sure I do.”
“Okay, then. Ann, I think we need some time together as a family. You, me, Lee. Road trip. I haven’t had a vacation for almost three years. So, I’m taking us all to California for a long weekend. You and Lee will meet my parents. Then he has to come back to Washington and work. Meanwhile, you and I will head to Hawaii and spend a few days there. You’ll miss a total of four days of school. I’ll send you back. Lee will pick you up at Reagan and I’ll stay in Hawaii for a few more days.”
Ann felt her biggest dream had come true. “But what about school?”
“As soon as we can set an appointment, you and I will meet with your teacher. I’ll get recommendations from her on a tutor. But, when I was on the run, one of my covers was being a substitute teacher for a few weeks in Manhattan. So I have some experience and can help you. I know what to do until we have a real tutor. Your first meeting with one will be when you return from Hawaii. Ann, I want you to meet your grandparents in Half Moon Bay. So, I’ll spend some of our time there tutoring you myself. Sort of like home schooling. Okay?”
Ann weighed the difference between this wondrous dream trip and the drudgery of school. “Um, okay, I guess.”
“Good. There’s a school holiday next week on Monday. I’m going to make air reservations and Hawaii hotel reservations. It will be fun to take a break. I’ll teach you to surf. You have to promise to bring all your school textbooks with you so you can continue making progress in your studies. You do have a long way to go but I believe you can do it.”
