In the Grey

by Christian, Claudia Hall

  “California?”

  “DPD got the tip this morning,” Trece said. “They came with SWAT. With SWAT! White Boy answered the door and was like, ‘What the hell?’ My DOD ID is worthless. With Steve missing, there’s no one to call. I. . . ah, shit Alex, I can’t go to prison. I won’t survive it. I can’t do it again. I won’t make it a day. Help me, Alex! You have to do something! Help me!”

  Alex heard movement in the background.

  “The Sheriffs are here to take me to California,” Trece said. “Tell Luz I love her and. . .”

  “Listen to me,” Alex said. “I will fix this. Keep your head down and do your time. Do not kill anyone. Do you hear me?”

  “But. . .”

  “This is a tactic designed to get you stuck there for the rest of your life,” Alex said. “Do not give them that chance. Do good time. I’ll get you out.”

  “I don’t think I can do it,” Trece said.

  “We never think we can until we do,” Alex said. “We will get you out.”

  “What about Solarus?” Trece asked.

  “Focus, Trece, focus,” Alex said. “What are you going to do?”

  “Follow orders, sir,” Trece said. “I will do good time.”

  “Which means?”

  “No fights, no killing, good time,” Trece said. “You think I can do this?”

  “I know you can,” Alex said.

  Voices in the background instructed Trece to hang up the phone.

  “I trust you,” Trece said.

  “I won’t let you down,” Alex said.

  The phone clicked and the line went dead. Alex caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Hector James held the nanodrone between the index finger and thumb of his left hand. He was working inside the nanodrone's body with the pointed end of her metal emery file. Too stunned to respond, she watched the boy.

  He held the nanodrone close to his eyes and then worked with the tip of the emery file. He set the drone on her desk, leaned back to look at it, and then picked it up again.

  “Who broke the fairy?” Hector James asked.

  “Fairy?”

  “This fairy,” Hector James pointed to the nanodrone. “I had to fix it.”

  “Thank you so much,” Alex said. “That’s very nice of you.”

  “No problem,” Hector James smiled. “Happy to help.”

  “Can you get it to fly?” Alex asked.

  “Sure,” Hector James clapped his hands and the nanodrone took off from the desk. “It won’t fly for very long, because it runs on light. It’s kind of dark in here.”

  The nanodrone flew for a minute or so and then set down on the desk.

  “What does it do?” Alex asked.

  “Nothing,” Hector James said. “Well, it flies and stuff.”

  “Does it take pictures or shoot weapons or . . .”

  “No,” Hector James said. “Hector told everyone that it did, because he’s a big fat liar. But the fairies just fly. Don’t tell Hermes. He thinks they transmit pictures straight to Mommy.”

  “How do you know?” Alex asked.

  “Because this is one of Mommy’s,” Hector James said.

  His voice was so matter of fact that Alex found herself nodding as if she already knew the information.

  “I’ll show you how you can tell,” Hector James picked up the nanodrone and turned it over. “See this dot?”

  He pointed to a tiny light blue screw.

  “That’s Mommy’s dot,” Hector James said. “She made them at our kitchen table. I helped her put on the dots.”

  “Did she make a lot?”

  “Mmm,” Hector James looked up to think. “More than a thousand, I think. She used to keep track on the refrigerator. But Daddy gave her the plans and . . .”

  “Hector?”

  “No, Troy Olivas, my daddy invented fairies for my mommy,” Hector James voice rose with emotion. “Hector was not my daddy. He was not nice or funny or sweet, and he did not love me.”

  The boy leaned back into her.

  “He was really bad,” Hector James said.

  Alex felt the boy’s body quake. She glanced down, and he was crying.

  “You want to see them again?” she asked.

  Hector James nodded.

  “More hot chocolate?” Alex asked.

  Hector James nodded. He hopped off Alex’s lap, and she got up to make his hot chocolate. She made herself a macchiato while his milk warmed. Hector James stood in front of her desk. He touched one item and then the next. When she came back with their drinks, he was holding the gold bee.

  She set the drinks on the shelf and sat down. He climbed on her lap with the gold bee.

  “That’s a pretty bee, isn’t it?” Alex smiled.

  “I don’t like it,” Hector James said.

  “How come?”

  Hector James shrugged.

  “Have you’ve seen it before,” Alex said.

  Hector James nodded.

  “I don’t know where,” Hector James said. “I think it has a hidden compartment.”

  “That’s kind of weird.”

  “Yeah, that is weird,” Hector James shrugged and set the bee in his lap. He picked up his hot chocolate. “I don’t know where I’ve seen it, but . . . do you have to know? Maybe Hermes remembers it. I can go get him.”

  “Why don’t we just watch our pictures and rest for a bit?”

  She felt Hector James’s head nod against her shoulder. She turned on soothing music and watched the light from the photos dance off the boy’s curly dark hair. He made it through about half of his chocolate before falling asleep. She took the cup and the bee and set them on the shelf.

  Rather than move on to what was next, Alex used this quiet time to think. She was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice the slideshow had ended. Feeling eyes on her back, she turned in her chair to find Troy standing in the doorway. He smiled at Alex, picked up his son, and carried him up the stairs. Alex watched them go and sat staring at the door for a moment.

  She spun in her chair and started making calls. By the time John got home, she was humming, “When you wish upon a star” and responding to email.

  “Happy?” John asked from the doorway.

  Maggie jumped up to greet him.

  “That you’re home,” Alex got up from her chair. “Want to see how much?”

  “Why don’t I take Maggie out while you lock up?” John asked.

  She turned off her computer and the gas fireplace before locking up her office. She met John and Maggie on their way in the side basement door. With Maggie leading the way, John chased Alex upstairs.

  F

  CHAPTER SIX

  Saturday morning

  November 6 – 9:27 a.m. MDT

  Denver, Colorado

  “Olivas,” Sergeant Dusty said from the doorway of the team workroom.

  “I’m right in the middle of . . .” Troy pointed to his computer screen.

  “The LC would like to see you now,” Sergeant Dusty said.

  “I . . .” Troy pointed to his computer screen again.

  “Now,” Sergeant Dusty said.

  Troy glanced around the room. He’d been so focused on what he was doing he hadn’t paid much attention to what was going on around him. He scanned the room. Alex wasn’t there. Neither was Joseph. Matthew wouldn’t meet his eye. He looked at White Boy, who nodded to him in a kind of “time to face the music” way. He looked back at Sergeant Dusty.

  “Let’s go,” Sergeant Dusty said.

  Troy got up from his seat and followed the sergeant down the hall.

  “I feel like I’ve been called to the principal’s office,” Troy said.

  “You have,” Sergeant Dusty said.

  The sergeant patted Troy’s back and opened the door to Alex’s office. Alex was sitting behind her big mahogany desk. Joseph was standing just to her left and her father, General Patrick Hargreaves, was standing to her right. Troy glanced at Alex. Her solemn face made him swallow hard
.

  “What did I do?” Troy asked.

  Sergeant Dusty closed the door.

  “If this is about what I did in SF training, I’ve apologized and . . . ,” Troy started.

  “Please come in and sit down,” Patrick said.

  Troy had never been afraid of the man until this moment. Alex’s fun-loving dad looked every bit the severe, tough-assed general everyone said he was. At least people said he was fair. Troy shuffled to the chair in front of her desk and sat down.

  “What do you know about this?” Alex set the plastic container with the nanodrone near the edge of her desk.

  “It’s a drone, a nanodrone. You found it at JFCOM,” Troy said. “I found the plans on Hector’s computer. I helped you find someone to manufacture one from the specs. It didn’t work.”

  Troy looked at her still face.

  “Um,” Troy said.

  Alex glanced at Joseph and he nodded. She looked at Patrick.

  “What’s a fairy?” Patrick asked.

  “Seriously?” Troy asked.

  “Answer the question,” Patrick said.

  “Listen, I get that I did something that was bad. But I’d really rather you tell me what’s going on. We can talk it through,” Troy said. “I don’t have a great capacity for this high pressure stuff anymore. It makes me want to kill myself and . . . I have two little boys who need me to be their everything.”

  Patrick raised a scary eyebrow and glanced at Alex.

  “You don’t need to break me down; I’m already broken,” Troy said.

  Troy tried to catch Alex’s eyes, but she was lost in thought. She picked up the plastic container, looked at it, and set it under her desk lamp.

  “This morning, Hector James told me a number of things about this drone,” Alex said. “I was on the phone and he picked it up and . . .”

  “If he broke something, he knows better than to . . .” Troy started.

  “No, son,” Patrick said. Troy looked up at Patrick, and the kind man he’d always known had reappeared on the General’s face. “The child hasn’t done anything wrong.”

  “He actually fixed it with my nail file,” Alex’s eyes finally lifted up to look at him. Troy’s heart lifted with her glance. He couldn’t help but give a little smile. “Hector James said that you designed the fairy for Dahlia.”

  “I did?” Troy’s hand went instinctively to his chest.

  “He called this a ‘fairy,’” Alex said. “He said you gave the plans to Dahlia and that she built them at their kitchen table. She used to keep track of how many on the refrigerator. He said she made ‘maybe a thousand,’ but it’s hard to know exactly how many.”

  Troy shook his head in disbelief.

  “He said you could tell it was hers by the blue dot on the bottom of the drone,” Alex said. “As you know, we’ve researched every detail of this drone. Every drone we’ve found so far has a tiny blue dot on it.”

  “We had it analyzed,” Joseph said.

  “It’s nail polish,” Troy said. “Yes, I was copied on that report.”

  “Hector James said this drone doesn’t do anything,” Alex said. “Doesn’t transmit photos and isn’t carrying a weapon, but he asked me not to tell Hermes, because he thinks the drones transmit his image to Dahlia.”

  Troy looked absolutely dumbfounded.

  “I didn’t press the child,” Alex said. “He was distressed enough.”

  “We’ll need to talk to the boys further,” Joseph said.

  “Of course,” Troy said. “Anything within reason. They’re little boys. Should I go get them?”

  “No need,” Alex said.

  “Have you ever read any of your brother’s books?” Patrick asked.

  “No,” Troy said. “I know Alex asked me to, and I tried. I did, but it was too hard. I asked Matthew to read them for me. He’s my partner, so I thought it wasn’t any big deal.”

  “Good thinking,” Joseph said. “I would have agreed to that if you’d asked.”

  “Wait,” Troy said. “Before we start holding hands and singing Kumbaya, why were you upset when I came in?”

  “Why didn’t you tell us that you designed the drones?” Alex asked.

  “I don’t remember designing them,” Troy said. “Seriously.”

  “Do you remember the first thing you said to me when you saw my fairy tattoo?” Alex asked.

  “No,” Troy shook his head.

  “You said that fairy was a good name for me. You were going to use it in your thesis about winged flight.”

  “What was the premise of your master’s thesis?” Patrick asked.

  “I looked at bees, butterflies, and dragonflies,” Troy said. “Basic aerodynamic mathematics shows that they shouldn’t be able to fly – bodies too big and heavy for their small wings. I postulated a mathematical model consistent with their flight. But it wasn’t published. The journals panned me because the reviewers were friends of my father’s and . . . Wait. You’re saying that worked?”

  “Did you ever give plans to Dahlia?” Joseph asked.

  “Plans?” Troy looked confused.

  “Think back,” Alex said. “You were working on your master’s thesis when Dahlia came for a visit. You were in Argentina for the summer. You went to Uruguay for a week’s leave? We met you there on our way to Brazil.”

  Troy shook his head.

  “You know, about nine months before she had Hector James?” Alex asked.

  “Holy crap,” Troy said. “I used the math to make a test model. A little plastic thing. I made it out of stuff I had around. I gave it to Dahlia when she left. I told her that I would always be with her.”

  “Anything specific about the model?” Joseph asked. “Anything a little odd?”

  “You turn it on by clapping. You know,” he blushed, “like how you save a fairy? From Peter Pan? I had a Clapper, the light thing. They were all the rage in Argentina. That’s where I got most of the components.”

  Alex opened the top of the plastic bottle and gave a loud clap. The nanodrone sprung into life.

  Troy reacted like he’d been shot. He fell forward with his elbows on his knees. His hands covered his face. His back shook when he started to sob. Joseph came around the desk to kneel down next to Troy. After a few moments, Troy looked up to see compassion in Alex’s eyes.

  “What else did he say?” Troy asked.

  “Nothing more,” Alex said.

  “What does this mean to you?” Troy asked.

  “I believe your brother stole your work,” Alex said. “His career took off around the time that Dahlia had Hector James. Rather than sending her to you in order to get pregnant, like we thought, he might have sent her to steal your work. She would have gone just to be with you. He could have easily heard about what you were doing, maybe even seen a draft of your thesis. He wanted the finished version.”

  “But the plans don’t work,” Troy said.

  “That’s the question,” Alex said. “Why did Dahlia have to make them?”

  “Ok, why?” Troy asked.

  “Because she wouldn’t give Hector a full set of the plans,” Joseph said. “She knew something about these things that’s not evident in reverse engineering.”

  “You mean, the plans on his computer were reconstructed from that thing,” Troy said. “Like we did.”

  “And don’t work,” Alex said.

  “But why would she do this?” Troy asked.

  “Why do you think?” Alex asked.

  Troy shook his head.

  “I’d guess that she used her ability to make the drones to bargain with Hector,” Alex said. “Maybe for another child. Maybe for better treatment for the boys. Hector James said that the fact they don’t do anything other than fly was a secret. It’s possible that your brother didn’t know that. He could have easily thought the nanodrones were spying on him. Could have kept him in line.”

  “He sold the drones to any interested country,” Patrick said. “Finished product, no plans.”

&n
bsp; “We thought that was good business,” Alex said. “But now . . .”

  “He couldn’t make them,” Troy fell back in his chair. “Wow.”

  “We’d like you to read your brother’s books,” Joseph said. “He became very famous around the time Hector James was born.”

  “Anything else?” Troy nodded.

  “We need to talk to the boys,” Alex said. “It’s probably best to have their therapist with them so we don’t freak them out.”

  “I’ll set it up,” Troy said. “And I’m sorry. I didn’t remember. I’d never hold back something I thought was important. I didn’t put it together.”

  Alex nodded. Troy got up and left the room.

  “Do you believe him?” Patrick asked.

  “I do,” Alex said. “But he’s holding something back.”

  “His grief?”

  “No, something about the plans,” Alex said.

  “Do you think he gave them to Dahlia?” Joseph asked.

  “I think he knows who did,” Alex said.

  “Should we . . . ?” Patrick asked.

  “No,” Alex said. “We need to trust him. He’s never been good with secrets. He’ll tell us eventually.”

  “You’re sure this thing . . .” Patrick gestured to the nanodrone. “It’s important?”

  “To the bigger picture,” Alex said. “I wonder if Hector and Eniac knew each other.”

  “Or if Dahlia knew Eniac?” Joseph nodded.

  “Troy said specifically that he would never not say something . . .”

  “If he thought it was important,” Patrick said.

  “He must not think it matters,” Alex said.

  “Why would he lie about this?” Joseph asked.

  “No way to know,” Alex said. “We need to trust him. Let’s give him space and see what he does.”

  Patrick gave her a hard look and walked out of the room.

  “He can be horrifying,” Joseph said.

  “Yeah,” Alex grimaced.

  Joseph touched her shoulder and left the room. Alex nodded to herself.

  “Your call from California is on line two,” Sergeant Dusty said.

  Smiling, Alex picked up the phone.

  FFFFFF

  Saturday, midday

  November 6 – 12:42 p.m. MDT

  Denver, Colorado