by Bryan Cohen
Natalie's face twitched. "Of course I knew that. I'm just annoyed with you."
Dhiraj knew of Natalie's prowess on the court, but her poker face left much to be desired. "Is there something going on with Jen I should know about?"
Natalie rubbed at her eyes. "Leave me out of this, Dhiraj. I swore I wouldn't tell. It's not worth worrying about."
A panic came over Dhiraj. What was Jennifer holding back from him? Why would she want Natalie to keep it a secret?
Dhiraj put on his much better neutral face. "Fine. I won't. Thanks for the chat."
He hopped off the bed and walked away.
"Dhiraj, wait. You're not going to tell her I said anything, right?"
Dhiraj faked a calm grin. "Of course not. Sorry again for interrupting Kissfest Live."
Before Natalie could reply, Dhiraj had bolted out of the room. He sat behind the steering wheel of his car for a moment and practiced his deep breathing techniques. They didn't seem to work as his hands began to sweat.
Is Jennifer going to break up with me?
Once the thought crossed his mind, he couldn't take it back. Now all the deep breaths in the world couldn't calm him down. Dhiraj's hands and feet did the work his mind couldn't, directing his car to Jennifer's house. He pulled up to the opposite side of the street and looked toward the house. Sure enough, he could see Jennifer through her window.
Why would she lie to me?
Dhiraj pulled out his phone and pushed the Jennifer icon on his speed dial. He tried to think of what he'd say if she picked up. Would he pretend that Natalie hadn't said a word? Could he possibly bring himself to confront her right off the bat?
Dhiraj didn't have the chance to try either. He watched through Jennifer's window as his girlfriend pushed the button to send his call to voicemail. He stammered as he tried to start his message.
"Hey, J–Jen. It's your m–man with a plan. I just wanted to see how your game went. Call me later."
Dhiraj hung up and tossed the phone onto the passenger seat. He didn't feel like a senior anymore. He just felt heartbroken.
29
Erica and Yoshi parked their car a few blocks away from Senator Kable's estate. In researching the man behind the eight-foot-high decorative walls, Erica found a politician with a past that was so pristine, it could barely be believed. When the attack ads hit full force during the election, Erica wasn't sure what President Blake's TV spots would focus on. In her experience, whenever a person didn't have any skeletons in their closet, there were several dozen of them buried in the basement.
Erica followed closely behind Yoshi. The samurai had been quiet when police questioned them about the death of Charlie Potts. It turned out that the cops had been called to the Potts residence multiple times in the last week. His late night screams and erratic behavior had gotten the attention of several neighbors. They weren't surprised the man might take a knife to his own throat.
Erica wasn't as convinced as the officers had been.
After a few laps around the compound, Erica and Yoshi both agreed about a relative blind spot between two cameras. They'd have to leap over the wall at just the right moment. Yoshi went first, using a parkour-style move to lift himself to the top of the wall. Once there, he leapt over with ease and disappeared from view. With a running start, Erica used her enhanced strength to fly through the air and grab hold of the wall. She could feel the cement scrape against her fingertips as she lifted herself above and over and then rolled as she landed to absorb the impact. The grass beneath her was cool and damp, as if it'd been recently watered. The building ahead of them was even more impressive than it'd been when obscured by the walls. It was dark red and covered with intricate sculptures from top to bottom. Erica figured she could fit her parents' house at least six times over in the building before her. Unfortunately for Kable, that also made it harder to guard.
Erica wiped at the dew on her pants. "Where to?"
Without hesitation, Yoshi pointed to a half-open window that seemed to lead to the basement. Erica's pulse quickened.
This is too easy.
They moved one at a time to avoid the cameras until they were just outside it. The samurai opened the window all the way and ushered Erica inside. She searched his face. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Erica gestured to the window.
"I insist."
Yoshi nodded and lowered himself into the room. Erica waited a moment for him to call back to her before she did the same.
Erica turned on a pocket flashlight and moved it from left to right. While there didn't appear to be a camera, there were several computers set up in a sort of corner office. Erica set her flashlight on the ground to free her hands and turned on one of the computers. She took out a flash drive Dhiraj had given her for just these sorts of occasions.
"What does it do?" Yoshi looked completely at ease.
Erica smirked. "Computers have been around for about ten percent of my lifetime. I'm lucky I know the difference between a Mac and a PC."
After being jacked in, the flash drive opened up a program that allowed them to bypass the password screen without a problem. They spent the next several minutes searching through computer files. There was no mention of portals, the hospital bombing or the gatekeeper.
Yoshi peered over Erica's shoulder. "Look up Sophie Kent."
The search yielded one result: a backed-up email on the computer from Senator Kable to his campaign manager.
"'I really like Sophie Kent's story. Can we make sure I get a picture alone with her?'"
Erica's eyes narrowed. "It's not incriminating, but it's certainly suspicious." She took a picture of the email using her phone. "I want to take a look around."
Yoshi nodded. "Okay. I can keep searching."
Erica shook her head and spoke in Japanese. "Two heads are better than one."
He smiled and reached over her to shut down the computer.
They wiped down their fingerprints, exited the room and crept up the stairs to the main part of the house. The basement led up into a massive library. The smell of old, hand-bound books reminded her of lifetimes past. Erica wondered how many of the books were decorative and how many he'd actually read. Before she had a chance to wager a guess, the light in the room turned on. She prepared to run back through the basement, but a familiar-looking woman appeared in the room's entryway. Erica had seen Senator Kable's wife on TV multiple times, but there was something different about her in person.
"Erica LaPlante." Kable's wife sounded completely awake despite the late hour. "I recognize you from the tabloids."
Erica looked back to Yoshi. Her partner was gone. It was as if he'd vanished into thin air. She focused her attention back on the senator's wife.
"Mrs. Kable. I'm sorry to wake you. Your guards let us–"
"I've heard enough lies on the campaign trail." Mrs. Kable took off her robe to reveal the black tattoos of the dark souls on her arm, as well as a rainbow-colored butterfly tattoo on her hand. "We may as well tell the truth, protector."
The recognition was immediate.
Sandra.
Every part of Erica screamed within her, telling her that escape was the only legitimate plan. "I liked you better with shorter hair."
Sandra tossed her hair and tied it back into a ponytail with one quick motion. "Appearance means everything to voters." She started to circle around the room toward Erica. "You'd think it'd be the issues. Or the voting record of the candidates. Nope. The people don't want a butch first lady."
Erica held her ground. She was close enough to the basement exit that a quick knockdown of her attacker could allow her to escape.
"But they'd be okay with an evil one?"
Sandra laughed. "I wouldn't be the first."
Before her quip had a chance to settle, Sandra charged straight ahead. Erica blocked the first punch, but the next three landed. The two body blows knocked the air out of her while the fist to the jaw took her to the ground. Erica tried to kick up, but Sandra swept her leg
s before she could do so. Sandra locked her thighs around Erica's arm and twisted it against the joint. Pain shot through Erica's body. She reached back, locked her hand around the heaviest book she could grasp and heaved it in Sandra's direction. Erica's attacker ducked the weighty tome, but the movement allowed Erica to kick Sandra away from her arm. As the dark soul came running back toward her, Erica spun her leg into Sandra's neck. Sandra shouted with pain and went down to one knee. Erica took the opportunity to kick Sandra in the side of the face. The dark soul's head bounced against the carpet and her body went motionless.
Erica rubbed at her arm and was about to run back down the stairs when she felt a sharp pain in her back. She reached for the source and pulled out a long, thin dart. Erica turned around toward the direction the dart had come from and saw a man she'd only previously met through the television screen.
"My wife wanted to handle you alone, but husbands have to support their spouses from time to time."
Kit Kable shot another dart out of the gun, which hit her directly in the stomach. Erica could feel the drug start to work its way through her bloodstream. Her eyelids started to feel like anvils.
"But she's–"
"A dark soul, yes." Kable moved in closer, still pointing the weapon. "And you're a protector. At least, you were."
Before Kable could get any closer, Erica ran past him at full speed. She could barely see where she was going, but she used her instinct to jump through a window. Erica couldn't feel the sharpness of the glass or the thud of the ground. All she knew was that she couldn't let herself get captured. Erica cued her muscles to push her toward the wall, but she started to lose feeling from head to toe. She pulled out her phone and tried to reach the text message screen. Like everything around her, it was becoming blurry. Erica felt the phone slip from her hand as her body went limp and landed on the grass beneath her.
30
Ted woke up to the text in the middle of the night. Half of the tubes that had previously tethered him down had been removed, giving him the freedom he needed to reach the device.
"Going to the Academy in Japan. Will explain when I land."
He immediately texted back to get more info, but none came. The phone's display told him it was three in the morning, and his fight or flight response told him he wouldn't sleep again that night. He called Dhiraj, but his friend didn't pick up. He considered waking his parents, but he had no idea what they could do about it. After several calls went through to Erica's voicemail, his sleepless brain attempted to sort through the facts.
Why would Erica go to Japan without telling him? As far as he could figure, either it was some kind of light soul "need-to-know basis" thing or Erica wasn't the one sending the text. When they'd last spoke, she didn't seem at all convincing when it came to Yoshi's trustworthiness. There was also the matter of the gatekeeper still on the loose and the potential involvement of Senator Kable. Erica could've been tossed through one of those portals for all he knew. And Yoshi could've been the one who did the tossing. He clenched his fists when he thought of the samurai.
Ted let himself drift off to sleep around six in the morning, but half an hour later he woke up to the sounds screaming from the hallway. His anxiety had come alive when he slept, as all the items in his room began thrashing against the walls. The empty bed beside him had completely flipped on its top. To keep the nearby nurses at ease, he resolved to stay awake and controlled for the rest of the morning.
Ted's eyes felt the strain of sleeplessness when Agent Vott entered his hospital room. Vott stepped over a toppled chair like nothing at all was amiss.
"Good news. The doctors have cleared you to go." Vott looked back at the chair. "Bad dreams?"
Ted ignored a headache that shot through his skull. "Something's wrong with Erica. I need to go home."
Vott shook his head. "You need to go to Washington, DC."
Ted's voice grew low. "And you're going to stop me from flying out of here?"
Vott looked away and sighed. "Tell me what's wrong."
Ted explained the situation to the DHS agent. Even though he knew Vott wasn't exactly Erica's biggest fan, at least he seemed sympathetic to his plight. The agent sat beside Ted on the hospital bed.
"Look, Ted. We don't want you to go flying away in your condition, but we'll help you locate your... girlfriend." Vott put his hand on Ted's shoulder. "You need to meet us halfway, though. Come to DC. At least it'll get you closer to home."
Ted knew that Vott had a point. He had no interest in taking back to the skies at less than full strength. Sitting up straight still gave him trouble; he couldn't imagine what flying through the air at top speed would do.
"One more condition."
Vott mumbled something to himself. "What's that?"
"I want a meeting with Senator Kable."
Ted bid his parents adieu and changed into something a little more protective than a paper gown. During the flight to DC, Ted learned that Kable had just flown to DC from Pennsylvania. That put him in his house around the same time Erica and Yoshi would've been there. Ted seethed as he thought about the samurai and what the senator might have done with Erica.
Vott came through on his promise and set up a meeting with Kable in a DHS conference room only a few hours after Ted's arrival. The room was sterile and pale, as if Ted hadn't even left the hospital room. He set there alone for several minutes until Kable poked his head in.
"Mr. Finley. So good to see you again."
Kable's confident smile made Ted clench his teeth. Perhaps sensing Ted's hostility, Kable avoided a handshake and left an empty chair between himself and the hero. The senator placed a manila envelope on the table and looked into Ted's eyes.
"I've got a busy schedule, but I was happy to squeeze you in." His grin made Ted want to rip the man's teeth out. "How may I help you?"
Ted cleared his throat. "If I decided to endorse you, when were you going to tell me about your connection with the gatekeeper and the disappearance of Sophie Kent?"
The senator put on his best shocked face. "Those are strong allegations, Ted. Are you sure you aren't still feeling the effects of those heavy painkillers?"
Ted's heartbeat quickened. "I know you were involved. I know you were home last night when Erica LaPlante paid you a visit."
The senator smiled. "I was."
Ted hadn't expected to hear the truth. He leaned in. "And...?"
"Erica and her samurai friend did visit, but they were turned away because it was the middle of the night."
Ted used his power to search through the senator's thoughts. There had to be a lie mixed in with the truth. As he attempted to read the man's mind, Ted felt the dizziness come over him again. He steadied himself with his hand placed firmly on the table.
"I don't believe you."
Senator Kable dumped out the contents of the manila envelope in front of Ted. His look turned from polite to stern. "Ted, believe it or not, I came here to protect you."
He pushed one paper in particular over toward Ted.
"What's this?" Ted picked it up and looked the document over.
It was an inter-office memo between the President's chief of staff and a name Ted didn't recognize. There was a lot of jargon that didn't make sense, but the mention of the Go Home Alien movement caught his eye.
"To make a long story short. President Blake was the one who funded the GHA."
Ted's jaw hit the ground. The organization that had put his mother in the hospital. The people who imprisoned Natalie and tried to frame her as a terrorist. If this document meant what Kable said it did, President Blake was behind it the whole time.
Ted looked back at the door that led to the hallway. "How do I know this isn't a trick?"
Kable stood up. "The only trick, Mr. Finley, is how the government tricked you into working for them. A trick that worked quite well, I'm afraid."
Ted stood up to meet Kable's eyes. When he did, the anger that coursed through his veins caused all the chairs in the room to s
lide into the wall.
"What else do you know?"
Kable offered his hand to Ted. "Everything I know is in a pile right there. Like I said before, I'm terribly busy today, but it was great talking–"
Ted walked between Kable and the door. "We're not finished. You know something about Erica and the attacks."
Kable walked right up to Ted's face. The hot breath from the senator's mouth warmed Ted's cheeks.
"There are a dozen men outside who would be willing to die for me. The only ones on your side put your mother in the hospital. I don't know anything about your girlfriend, so I think it's best to play the odds, Super Ted."
Ted suppressed his ire and stepped to the side.
Kable grinned. "Good talk. Let's do this again sometime, shall we?"
Before Ted could devise a retort, the senator had left him alone in the room. He sat back down at the table and pored over the documents. While he didn't understand most of them, enough was made clear. If the documents were genuine, President Blake and the GHA were as one. After a few minutes went by, Agent Vott walked in.
"Did you get everything you needed?"
Ted spun around in his chair. "Did President Blake fund the GHA?"
Vott's eyes gave it away even before his brain did. Ted had been through Vott's head a hundred times over, but the sheer mention of Blake tied to the GHA told him everything he needed. Vott took a deep breath and closed the door behind him.
"We never meant for your mother to get hurt. We thought Cobblestone could be controlled."
Ted's rage bubbled over. The three chairs nearest Vott cornered the agent by the door. "My mother could've died. Natalie could've gone to jail." Ted felt his power grasp around Vott's throat. "You lied to me."
Vott tried to pull the grip away from his neck, but there weren't any hands to remove. If Ted wanted, he could've used all his strength to end the man's life. He released his hold and Vott slumped into one of the chairs.
"I'm done. I'm going home. Tell Harding I left the signed football in his office."
Ted opened the door.
"Ted, wait!"
