Carson looked at his watch. “Better get a move on.” He opened the door leading to the garage.
Carson opened the garage door. Charles got in his car and smiled as he started the engine. He backed out of the garage then waved to Bev who was standing on the front porch. Charles continued driving out of the driveway and down the street. On the way Charles thought about the classes he would have that day and about seeing Caroline.
When he pulled up into his parking space, heads turned to see who was getting out of the new muscle car. Charles walked through the school doors and merged into the sea of teenagers. He headed for his locker first. He hurriedly put his backpack in his locker then grabbed what he needed for class. He’d promised Caroline he’d walk her to her classes. He figured she was probably waiting on him. As Charles closed his locker, he came face to face with Jaine. He was in a hurry so he tried to keep the conversation short.
She smiled at him. “Hi Charlie. How was your summer?”
“Fine. I spent it on the farm helping my grandparents.”
“Sounds interesting…”
“It was. How was your summer?”
“Not as interesting as yours. Want to walk with me before class?”
“Thank you, but I am meeting someone. I promised to walk her to class if she isn’t already gone by now.”
“Who are you meeting?”
“Caroline.”
“Oh, I should have known… Charlie, you never see anyone but Caroline these days.” Her friends saw her from down the hall. They walked over to his locker to stand by Jaine.
“I’ve got to go. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Jaine turned and frowned as Charles walked away. She told her friends about their exchange. Jaine said to her friends, “I’m going to find out more about this Caroline. Who does she think she is anyway?”
Her friends smirked feeling sorry for the girl who had Charles’ attention because they knew that Jaine manipulated events until she got her way. The one thing she always wanted but never got was Charles Brookfield, everyone knew it. They knew that Charles’ girl was about to receive a rude awakening and put in her place, just like the others.
Charles hurried down the hall. He didn’t realize it but word had already begun to spread about his snubbing of Jaine.
He had Caroline in his vision. She was talking to a girl the next locker over from hers when he walked up.
“Good morning.”
She turned around and smiled. “Hi Charles.”
“Let’s see that schedule of yours.” Caroline pulled her schedule out of her folder and handed it to him.
He looked it over and whistled. “That’s almost as challenging as mine. Well, we are on opposite ends of the school for the first class. We’d better get going so I can make it to my class on time.” He memorized her schedule then gave it back to her.
By the time the third hour class let out, the whole school knew about the incident between Charles and Jaine.
Charles walked quickly to Caroline’s class. The next class hour they were only a few doors down from each other. As they walked down the hall, Caroline felt uneasy about the stares they were getting from their peers.
She asked Charles, “Why is everyone looking at us?”
Charles looked around and didn’t notice anything strange. “I don’t know. I don’t see anyone looking at us.”
Caroline nodded, unconvinced. “Okay then. If you say so…” Caroline walked into the classroom.
Lacey, Jaine’s best friend came rushing around the corner. “There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you, Charlie. Do you realize you are the talk of the school? What’s the matter with you anyway? You’re such an idiot.”
“Slow down, what are you talking about? I think you are exaggerating…”
She was shaking her head vigorously. “No. I’m not! Everyone is talking about you and Jaine.” She put her hands on her hips.
“I didn’t do anything to Jaine.”
“The whole school knows that you snubbed her. You’d better believe it, she’s mad!”
Charles rolled his eyes. “All I did was tell her I was walking Caroline…” Then he understood. “Oh good grief!”
Lacey sneered. “You’d better fix it.”
As she stormed off, Charles watched her and shook his head. He thought: Girls! He quickly glanced into Caroline’s classroom as he turned to go to his class. He saw Caroline and directly behind her was Jaine. He swallowed hard and put his head down. He decided he’d meet up with Caroline later.
The rest of the day he avoided Jaine and her friends. He’d never been so anxious to get to the end of the day, when the last bell rang. He ran to his locker to grab what he needed. He slung his backpack onto his shoulder and closed his locker. He hurried to catch up with Caroline.
Chapter 64
Dimitrios went to the kitchen and picked up his technology tablet. Then he walked to the door of his hidden office. He touched the panel that slid the wall to the side. The office was revealed. He sat down at his desk, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After he exhaled, Dimitrios opened his eyes and stared at Reiko in the palm of his left hand. His thoughts ran wild taking him through a gamut of emotions. He would have to face his fear and view what Reiko captured. His head was throbbing. He rubbed his temple for a moment with his right hand.
The Sojourners’ Council was applying pressure and demanding answers. He couldn’t remember the answers to their questions because he didn’t remember anything that happened for a two week period. Dimitrios knew for a fact that at one juncture in time he did have all the answers. He even survived the death defying, wicked event. One thing was certain, he paid a price for the knowledge by facing death, amnesia, torturing headaches, nightmares he couldn’t remember, and worst of all nagging questions of his own.
Dimitrios examined Reiko and wondered what Wayland and Natalie had seen in his moments of weakness as he prepared himself for death. He wished he knew what he’d felt during that time span. The most agonizing part was that he would be viewing all of the events as if it were someone else, not himself, because he couldn’t remember what happened. The next question he had was, what if he started to remember after watching the events unfold? Was he better off not knowing? He pondered that question and decided he needed to know what occurred during his period of amnesia.
Dimitrios set Reiko on top of his technology tablet and watched what it had previously recorded. It was as if he were watching a movie and he was the star of the show. He observed the events unfold and scrutinized what had actually happened. Reiko’s recording began during the afternoon with a conversation he had with Cassia. Dimitrios witnessed his weird behavior as he talked to her. He had explained that on a certain date she needed to remind him of items that he had listed in a file. He pointed out the date that was marked on her calendar. As Dimitrios watched the recording he believed his behavior made perfect sense for someone ready to join a jailbreak.
He continued to watch carefully as Reiko followed his movements. The recording showed him later in the evening pacing up and down Cassia’s street. As Dimitrios watched, he noticed something else. He picked up on something he’d not wanted to admit to himself. Now he saw what others had witnessed all along. He said it out loud, “Cassia, I do love you. I was going to propose, wasn’t I?” Dimitrios noticed in the recording that he had taken a small box out of his coat pocket. Then he had put it back in the pocket. He watched very carefully to see what happened when he went to her door. He saw Cassia open the door and invite him inside, but he didn’t go in. Instead he had stayed out on the front porch. Dimitrios watched and listened to their interaction. He had told her that he needed her to do something for him. He had asked her to keep a security code because the system was going to be backed up. If the need arose for him to go on an assignment, then he would need her to enter the code for him so he would have access while he was away. If he ended up not going, then she was to return the code to him on the date he was suppos
ed to leave.
As his image was about to kiss Cassia, he discovered why he didn’t go inside her home. Anjoleah came to the door. Dimitrios sighed as he watched the whole thing. He said out loud, “I knew it! No wonder I didn’t propose! Her sister was there.” He growled. That woman always had a knack for getting in their way. Cassia was Anjoleah’s older sister. He shooed her as he watched. “Go back, go back.” However Anjoleah didn’t leave. She stayed at the door causing an awkward moment. Dimitrios frowned. “I didn’t do it. I left!” He jumped up out of his chair. “I left, just like that.” He sighed.
Dimitrios sat back down. He continued to watch the recording as his earlier self went to his house and put the ring in the wall vault. He had changed clothes, walked to the kitchen, written out his name, address and information on a small map. He then taped a pod token to the page and placed it in his pocket. Then he left. Dimitrios found it interesting that he had once again walked by Cassia’s, but he continued to walk until he made his way across several sectors to the Time Warp Tunnel.
Chapter 65
Once Nxy was back on the compound, the whole community celebrated her victory. Donovan and Joseph shook hands and grinned, while Non continued to bring their people in from the Hub. Non heard from a Grunt that Maureen was spotted on the compound.
Non gave her a tiny head start before he turned to Donovan and mouthed, “Ball Wrecker.” Suddenly the celebrating came to a halt.
Joseph had never seen his father move so swiftly. Joseph took off after him. Donovan was determined to get to Nxy before Maureen or at least at the same time to get credit from his wife for the score. He was a man on a mission. He waved off anyone who congratulated him along the way. He kept moving, maneuvering around all obstacles. At this point Joseph didn’t know who he’d put money on to get to the prize first.
As luck would have it, they arrived almost simultaneously. Donovan was slightly ahead of Maureen by a matter of seconds. He had just taken the Witzenelt Collection from Nxy and unwrapped it from her jacket when Maureen purred, “Darling, job well done. Mama’s very happy.” She came up from behind him. Donovan slightly turned his head to find her standing beside him.
She reached for the collection as he happily handed the box to her. She said as if she were talking to a baby, “Come to Mama.” She caressed the box and rubbed its top.
Joseph moved nearer so he could see the interesting box the collection was in. It was made of tarnished metal with a gold plated inlaid design. He couldn’t really get a good look at the container because his mother was now holding it close to her chest. She walked away with the box to Donovan’s office, leaving father and son to congratulate Nxy.
Donovan gave the orders for everyone to have double the meal portion that night. They could hear the cheering throughout the compound as word spread. Donovan hugged Nxy. “Job well done my dear. Go feast like a queen, and then off to the doctor for a checkup. When everything checks out and the doctor releases you, then it’s rest time until after our love-star child is born.”
He turned to Joseph. “Well, what are you waiting for? Get this lady a dinner fit for a queen! Why do I have to tell you what to do all the time?”
Joseph took Nxy’s hand and kissed it. He whispered to her, “Congratulations on a job well done.”
He escorted her in the direction of her home but she reprimanded him, “No! I want to dine with everyone else.”
Joseph looked at her as if she were deranged. “Excuse me. What did you say?”
“I want to dine and celebrate with everyone in the dining hall.”
Joseph stopped and stared at Nxy. “Did you say you want to dine in the hall?” She nodded as he said, “I thought that is what you said. All right. If that’s what you want.”
He turned her in the direction of the dining hall. When they entered the hall the room fell completely silent. Then the silence erupted into cheers and songs heralding Nxy’s bravery. She was once again a celebrity to the people of the compound. She had come to their rescue several times before in their time of need. It seemed to Joseph as he looked around that they had placed her star in the sky and she by far outshone any of the others. Joseph noticed their accolades were enough to overshadow his presence and his big ego.
He’d seen this display of affection for her the time before, when she made history by bravely leading the great escape of the prisoner’s held by the Passageway authorities. To the community, she was becoming a bit of a folk hero.
He sort of understood it because the woman could do things that couldn’t be replicated or explained. No one knew how she performed her daring escapades. Joseph thought back to when she arrived on the compound with the men from the Hub Prison. The scientists had tried to question the prisoners on how she accomplished her mission but it was discovered they all had amnesia. Not only were they victims of amnesia, but the prisoners displayed signs of irritability, anger, aggression and instability. The prisoners were held in the infirmary for evaluations. Most of their memories had slowly but steadily come back with the exception as to how she led them to freedom.
Just the other day, their best doctors had transferred all the men to the foreign soil compound for their psychological evaluations. In a couple of days those who passed their evaluations would all be reassigned to another planet in the game. The life the men knew before they escaped from prison would now be forever and irrevocably changed. They were going to leave their families and old sins behind. Each man had a reassignment of identity and duty, with one exception, Max. Joseph still wasn’t clear why the young miscreant hadn’t been reassigned. He tried not to think too much about it because he really did not care for that particular young man. He was similar to every other delinquent on the compound. The problem was there was something dangerous and peculiar about Max that Joseph couldn’t put his finger on. That guy was rebellious, to Joseph that was all the more reason to get rid of him on another planet, in a different galaxy.
Earlier Max had convinced Non that he had a grudge against a high-ranking official; before the arrest he was on to something really important. After the escape, Max claimed he just needed time to sort the thoughts out in his head since the amnesia had distorted his memory. Non had searched his file. Max’s story checked out, he’d been given clearance by one of their high-ranking officials to conduct an investigation before he’d been captured. When Non brought the information to Donovan, he signed off allowing Max to stay for the time being. Non delayed his reassignment.
Joseph’s thoughts turned back to Nxy. He watched her very carefully. At that very moment, he had mixed emotions about her. He wondered if he hadn’t made a very costly mistake that might come back to taint his future. In time he’d find out the answer to the nagging gut feeling. His jealously over Nxy’s new found celebrity personification made him more determined and motivated than ever to discover whom this woman really was. The thought persisted in his head: How much do I really know about her? He hoped he hadn’t made a miscalculation, in which choosing her meant he had disrupted the balance of power by giving the compound subordinates hope of having a hero in the making. He was alarmed that they were making her someone who could rescue them from their misfortunate lot in life. With that in mind, his next thought was: It’s about time she disappears for a while. He’d be sure to see to it.
Chapter 66
Daniel pulled into the parking space next to Charles. He stepped out of his car and opened Caroline’s door. He talked across Caroline to Charles.
“Nice car, Brookfield.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Wanna race after school to see who has the best car?”
“No thanks. Yours is faster.”
Daniel scowled. “It would be better to actually see which car is the fastest.”
Charles shook his head. “No thanks. Looking at your set of wheels, I’d get smoked.”
Daniel smirked and patted the hood of Charles’ car. “If you say so, man. See ya around.”
Daniel strolled to the b
uilding, meeting up with some of his friends along the way. He was telling them about his conversation with Charles. They were pointing to Daniel’s racecar high fiving. Caroline rolled her eyes at their display of ridiculousness.
As Daniel walked by Jaine, he said, “Hi.” They exchanged smiles as he walked down the hallway.
Charles opened his car door and stepped out. He went around to Caroline’s door. After she stepped out, he grabbed their backpacks and walked her to her locker. Then they walked to his locker to get his books.
Jaine was waiting for him. “Hi Charles.”
He said good morning to her. Caroline said good morning too, but Jaine acted like she didn’t hear her. She turned and walked off with her friends who sneered at Caroline.
Charles said, “Just ignore them.”
Charles shut his locker and walked Caroline to class. Then he went to the office to register his car. Pete followed Charles in the room. They talked as they waited for the school secretary to finish her phone call.
Cynthia walked in the office and over to Charles. “I saw that you drove to school today.”
He smiled. “I’m registering the car for a parking space.”
“Just don’t get the spot by my car.
He laughed. “I think that’s the only space left.”
She frowned. “Why don’t you have to take Sophie to school? You get out of everything. This is my senior year you know…”
Charles shrugged. “How come you don’t have to get out of bed at the crack of dawn and gather eggs with the snakes or get stung by bees collecting honey?”
She shrugged. The thought of having to get out of bed any earlier in the morning didn’t appeal to her one bit. The rest of it didn’t sound like fun either.
Charles received his pass from the secretary. He read off a fake number that would have been right next to Cynthia’s space. Her eyes opened wide as she reached for the paper. Charles laughed and held it out of reach.
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