by Shawn Keys
A few phones were out, making the calls.
Dazz stepped in next to him. “Get out of here, Kyle. Seriously.”
Kyle was standing back a little, distancing himself from the crumpled Fred. He objected, “They started it!”
“Think Chrissy is going to tell it like that? Nathan, get him out of here! Riley and I will stick around and make sure the right story gets told straight.” She cocked her head to one side. “Unless you want to risk spending tonight in a holding pen? Chrissy is going to start screaming assault as soon as a cop is close enough to hear her.”
Kyle wanted to scream in frustration, but he knew it didn’t matter. Sometimes, perception is reality. Way of the world. “Fine. Don’t get in any trouble yourselves, though!”
Riley smirked. “Oh, we won’t. Cruel. Cold. You know us.”
That dragged a quick laugh from Kyle. “I knew there was a reason Nathan liked you so much.”
Dazz shooed at him. “Go!”
They went.
* * *
Hurrying until they were out of sight of the college completely, Kyle and Nathan slowed to a more moderate pace. Kyle scrubbed at his face. “This is ridiculous! No wonder the FDPC come and warn you. Everyone is going extra crazy since I found this out!”
Nathan nodded. “Why do you think I like to be the gray man wherever I go? Nothing to worry about when no-one knows who the hell you are.” He chuckled, then considered their options. “Want to hang out at my place? Just bought Gallic Fury VI. If you get the perfect firing sequence with the sniper rifle, you can make people’s heads explode with firebolts.”
“Sure. I could use a little mindless violence right about now.”
They kept chatting as they trudged the couple of kilometers to Nathan’s place. As per normal, the drive-way was empty. His father was a terror, but fortunately worked in logging camps outside the city most of the year. When he was around, he spent most of that time in a bar. On the few occasions he was around to give Nathan nightmares, Nathan would find better places to be. His mother was working at the diner that helped pay for food and clothes, since the paychecks coming back from the logging camps tended to be irregular at best.
Marching up to the door, Nathan fished for his keys. “We could order something for supper. Pizza?”
Kyle thought a little bit of comfort food was the perfect idea. “You read my mind. Going to let me put anchovies on it?”
Nathan scrunched up his face. “For an otherwise reasonable individual, you have a serious character flaw when it comes to salty fish products. We’ll get two pizzas.”
“We can’t eat that much!”
“That’s why the universe allowed for the creation of leftovers. Besides, you’re lucky I’m letting that crap in my house. There is no way I’m letting that smell inside a box with my half of the pizza. I can taste the after-smell.”
“That’s your imagination,” Kyle mocked him back. He was enjoying the bit of pleasant banter, a bit of the normal after the crazy.
They stepped into the front hallway and started to toss their jackets and shoes toward the closet.
A female voice from up the stairs demanded, “Nathan?” The first shout was loud. Then, her tone shifted into an angry mutter. “You have got to be kidding me! This is so fucking unfair! Nathan, is that you?”
Kyle had met Nathan’s sister, Chloe before. She was older by a year, and normally away at college in Texas. That made for an interesting blend to her voice: she had a rock-and-roll attitude, but her time in Texas had given her a subtle undertone of a southern twang. The two didn’t quite mix in an oddly charming way. Apparently, she was home from the last semester.
Nathan looked concerned. For every bit of hatred he had for his father and his much older brothers who took after the family patron, his sister and him helped each other survive the insanity. Both were odd-balls in their own way, and determined to hold onto being themselves despite anyone’s criticism. “What’s the matter, Chlo?”
Chloe appeared at the top of the stairs, scowling in a full-on snit. She wasn’t really dressed for company. She was in a tank-top gray shirt with a halter-top length. Her stomach was bare, showing off her toned tummy with a hint of abs from her time in the gym. The lower hem of the top threatened to flash her black bra underneath with each step she took, especially from this angle as she came down the stairs. She was in nothing but underwear and socks below that; her panties were substantial enough to be more like hot-pants, but they did almost nothing to conceal her hourglass hips and the curve of her thighs. White socks capped off the look, keeping her feet warm though doing very little for the rest of her. Her dark hair was loose, controlled behind her ears by a hair band that was missing quite a few strands. She had a kitten tattoo on one cheek, and had startling blue eyes that blazed with her inner emotions.
Taking the stairs in a fast blur, Chloe thrust her phone into Nathan’s face. She didn’t seem to register Kyle being there or any concern at being half-naked around him. “Are you shitting me? Nathan, did you just find out you’re one of the gifted? Because that… oh, that would be sooo my sort of luck right now!”
Nathan was trying to calm her down, “Ease up, Sis! What are you talking about?”
Chloe tapped the app-screen. “The red blip of doom! I saw it as soon as you walked in! Didn’t you get my texts?”
Nathan shrugged guiltily. “We’ve had a hectic couple of hours.”
“They’re cancelling my scholarship, Nathan! Budgets are tight, so the funds are being reallocated to support ‘forward-looking agendas’! You know what that political shit means? It means they’re reshuffling it all into another grant for women who have kids! Doesn’t matter that I earned this and kept my grades on point for the last two years! Oh no! They’re cutting me off!”
Kyle couldn’t help but sympathize. He remembered the scramble of all their classmates at the end of their high school years. Every year, the government funneled more and more into the incentives to stabilize the population. Those choosing not to help with the effort found their options increasingly limited. And the problem seemed to be getting worse, not better.
Nathan was thinking the same. “Aww, crap. That’s totally unfair!” It didn’t matter that it followed perfectly with recent government priorities. He was instantly on his sister’s side, exactly like he would back Kyle if he was ranting. That was the sort of reaction you earned when you had Nathan’s loyalty. He shook his head. “But you got it wrong, Chlo. No need to lose your shit. I’m not…” He stopped. A rising sort of horror began to creep up his face.
Chloe’s face scrunched up in confusion. “But…” She looked down at her phone. Then, she looked over at Kyle. “You mean… Kyle…?”
Nathan grasped Kyle’s coat and threw it into his face. “Get out!”
Kyle protested, “What are you doing? We were going to play vide –”
Nathan scrambled right over his words, “– Dude, I said go! Not tonight. Sorry! No mas. Begone! And a polite fuck off right along with it! See you in class tomorrow! Bye!”
Before he knew what had happened, Kyle was pushed out onto the porch and the door slammed into his face. “What the…?”
Then, from inside, Nathan shouted loud enough to be heard clear to the street, “You are not sleeping with my best friend to get into school!”
Kyle’s mouth formed an understanding, “Ooohhhhhhh….”
Chloe’s normally pleasant voice got a little shrill, “How else am I going to afford college, Nat? I need a semi-non-loser-guy! What? You want me to go trolling for random guys on the strip?”
“Nuh uh! Ain’t happening! Not Kyle!”
Kyle figured that getting the hell off the porch was probably a good idea. Either she was going to yank open the door or Nathan might peek out to see if he was lurking around. Either way, it would lead to an argument. Kyle snickered as he skipped down the steps. No matter how funny he found this, he wasn’t going to betray his best friend like that.
Though the i
mage of Chloe’s beautiful figure dressed in mere scraps of clothing was going to be burned into his brain for hours.
He roamed onto the sidewalk and wondered what the hell he was going to do now. This ‘gift’ was effing up his whole life! Now he couldn’t even hang out at Nathan’s place anymore or Chloe was going to jump him in a dark corner. And she was probably back for the whole summer!
What next?
As if in answer to his summons, his phone lit off with the happy little tune he used for his mother’s caller ID.
Kyle sighed. Sure. Why not? Guess it’s time to tell her that she might actually get grandchildren someday. That sounded like a perfect conversation to have while wandering aimlessly down a street at sunset. That’s normal, right?
Ignoring his own sarcastic thoughts, Kyle tapped open the screen and accepted the call. “Hey, Mom.”
“Hello dear. You sound like you’re having a rough day.”
Kyle sighed. “You don’t know the half of it. Not all bad. But the swings have been up and down, let’s just say.”
“I can imagine. Mind if I put you on speaker? Steve is here.”
Kyle chewed on that. He liked his step-father well enough. They had even bonded a little over a few common hobbies. But the guy just hadn’t been around long enough yet for Kyle to really think of him as ‘Dad’. But he loved his mother, and he knew any effort he made to get closer to the man she had married always put a smile on her face. For her more than anything, he said, “Sure.”
A click on the other end echoed through the line, then Steve’s pleasant baritone came through, “Evening, Kyle.”
“Hey, Steve.” It was one of the things Kyle liked about the guy. He didn’t try to use stupid nick-names like ‘slugger’ or ‘pal’ or a dozen other ways to try and force their dad-son connection to get any deeper. As always, Kyle tried to keep their rapport positive. “See the Orcas take down the Nationals?”
Immediate happiness broke into his step-father’s voice. “34-13. It wasn’t a game. It was a massacre. Few more of those and they might make the post-season.”
His mother spoke again, trying to sound natural. “Alright you two. Enough. Kyle, do you remember the talk we had a while back? About how you felt about me using the ‘Parent Nose’ app?”
It was from a while back. Kyle searched his memory, then remembered. The app’s name was a poor pun on ‘Parent Knows’, while conjuring images of sniffing out the truth. When the government had rolled out the implants that lo-jacked everyone in the country (and the world, since most countries had signed on as cooperating members), it hadn’t taken long before parents petitioned to get access to the data feed so they could track their kids.
His mother was no different. It was one of the reasons she had let him go to Europe; one of her conditions had been that he never wander anywhere beyond the normal coverage or into any countries that didn’t have a cooperating agreement with the States. She had pretended to ask him if it was alright that she followed him around, though undoubtedly, she would have followed him anyway. Kyle had given in easily enough. It wasn’t like he spent all his time breaking the law and hanging out with miscreants. What was she going to see? Him lounging on Nathan’s couch too much? Or hanging out on a Spanish beach working up the courage to hit on one of the girls there?
“Sure, Mom. What about it? Oh, I just got a new implant today. Did that cut off the feed?”
“No, that’s not it. But, you see, all these government apps all interface together. So… well… I saw it link over to the other app.”
Kyle face-palmed himself. So much for figuring out how to break the news. She already knows. “Well, that’s sort of awkward, Mom. I guess… surprise?”
His two parents chuckled at that. Steve said, “Sounds like you’re taking it well.”
“Not everyone is. There was a dust-up at school because the resident ‘gifted’ took it on himself to get all insulted that he had competition.”
Both of them made understanding murmurs over the line. His mother said, “People can get a little crazy when strange things happen. Are you alright?”
“Fine. You should see the other guy.”
“Ohh, Kyle. I told you need to be careful.”
“Was me or him, Mom. Really. I tried to walk away.”
“If you say so. Are you coming home?”
Kyle wasn’t sure. He was feeling a little on edge. He’d been only half-joking with Nathan about needing a little violence. He could sure use the chance to blow off a little steam. “Not right away. I think I’m going to head over to the fair grounds. Swing a couple of those hammers and shoot a few of those rifles they have at the carnival games. Picture a few people on the other end. Might help me hit the targets.”
Kyle could hear the scowl on her face. “Be nice, Dear. Don’t stay out all night. I’ll leave a little supper in the fridge.”
Steve added, “Careful in those crowds. Pickpockets are girls as often as they are guys, and now you have a tracer on you. Anyone can follow you from a distance, looking for the right moment… and not just the ones who want to get you in the sack.”
There was a soft whack in the background as his mother hit him. “Steve!”
“What?”
Kyle chuckled, hearing the same sort of friendly banter between them that he cherished with his friends. Maybe Steve wasn’t so bad after all. “Thanks, both of you. Talk to you soon.”
“Love you, Dear.”
“Love you too, Mom.” Kyle hung up the phone and sped up his pace. The fair grounds were a fair distance away, but he didn’t want to waste the money on a taxi. If he could make it to Bleaker Street in under five minutes, he could catch the 8 Bus most of the way there. Suddenly the idea of being lost in a faceless crowd appealed to him. Those stupid apps were not that accurate. A single blip wandering through the crowd would be easy to mistake for any other guys around him, at least until the searcher got up close. It would almost be like old times for a couple hours.
After all that had happened, he could use the rest.
* * *
Jill Niles was behind the wheel as the SUV passed the Lionsgate city limits. She put on her blinker, veering into the left lane to take her out toward the eastern edge of town where the fair grounds hosted the semi-permanent carnival that entertained the township through the summer. She appreciated the fact that the bullets fired into the vehicle hadn’t hurt its operation. Replacing it would cost time.
Tapping on his computer, Jack said, “We should go the Hutchings home, first.”
“He isn’t there.”
“I know, Jill.” Lawson angled his read-out, which clearly showed the Hutchings kid getting off the bus at the carnival area. “But I want to get a look at his family. Get a sense if he has any hope of passing the baseline.”
Jill gave him a hard look. “We have his photo and measurements. You know what we’re going to find. The baseline isn’t going to tell us anything that Claire Erinson’s general health and fertility tests didn’t.”
Jack grumbled. “They aren’t looking for the same thing. And files can be wrong. We need to see those markers. He might be carrying enough raw material to be left in the wild.”
Jill decided to lay off. She knew what he was feeling. She wasn’t immune. Ending a genetic line was necessary, but it was never fun. Neither of them wanted to do it twice in one evening. “Did you check the viability on the CRAGG doses?”
“Yeah. They’re fresh enough.” The idea that they could give this young man a 50% chance to live even if he failed the baseline boosted Jack’s spirits.
Reversing her direction, Agent Niles turned into one of the stretches of suburbia in the small city. A couple of corners later, they were pulling down the street and parking in front of a quiet neighborhood home. She checked her pistol, making sure it was free for drawing.
Jack reminded her, “He isn’t even here.”
“Neither was that woman at the Herald place.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He sounded annoy
ed, but he checked his weapon in his armpit holster anyway.
They walked up to the front door and rang the bell. It wasn’t long before the door opened. Jill smirked. Small town living. No chains. No peep-holes. No cracking a door just in case the stranger was a monster. It was a blend of charm and naivety.
The man who opened the door was middle-aged and handsome enough. Probably mid-forties, with a little more weight around his middle than he probably liked, but with a charming smile that gave him a little appeal. “Hello?”
“Steve Wallace?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
Jill was glad she had read the file closely. The wife hadn’t taken this man’s last name when they married, supposedly for the sake of her son, who had lived so long under his mother’s maiden name. “Good evening. Is your wife and step-son home? We’re agents with the FDPC, and we need to have a word with him.” Jill played dumb, testing how the man was going to play this: cooperative or protective.
Instead, Steve evaded. He called over his shoulder. “Honey, you should probably come to the door.”
The woman the agents knew from her picture as Amanda Hutchings strolled out into the hallway. She was the definition of unprovocative; her face was lovely, her body conjured the word ‘plump’ as a description, and her underlying goodness radiated outward. “What can I do for you?”
Steve whispered, “FDPC agents.”
Amanda gave a soft, “Ahh. You’re looking for Kyle?”
Jack nodded. “I’m Agent Lawson, this is Agent Niles. We’re here for the initial interview following his test this afternoon. Has he had the chance to contact you? Has he told you about the results?”
Amanda nodded, “We spoke briefly. I saw him appear on my notification screen tied into the parental interface. So far, he’s handling it well enough.”
Jill did her best to strike a friendly vibe. “Is he already in a committed relationship with anyone? We’re wondering how likely it is that he might already have passed on who he is.”
Amanda actually chuckled. “That’s about the nicest way to ask if he’s going to be sleeping around. No, as far as I’m aware, he doesn’t really have a girlfriend. I’d like to say I know for sure, but he’s been his own man for a while. I like having him home, so I try not to pry. That would only drive him out of the house.”
