by Teya Tapler
Zander switched on the audio and started monitoring the area. On the screens, he saw Emil and Evan walk up Broadway passing furniture and sportswear shops. They stopped in front of a café. On the screen, they looked like ordinary people making food choices for lunch, discussing some of the items on the shop window, and then entering the café to buy some food.
Zander switched from camera to camera and continued to monitor the streets. There was nothing out of the ordinary. The city was busy as usual. Everyone was minding their own business: the dogs in the park were sniffing each other’s tails, people were buying food and newspapers, the pigeons were menacing the park alleys, a couple from one of the apartments on the other side of the park was on their balcony, enjoying the early sun. She was sitting on a lounge chair, while he was leaning on the railing focused in Zander’s direction. Zander was about to dismiss them when the man looked at the café where Evan and Emil were standing and then looked back at Zander. This was too much of a coincidence. Zander zoomed into the faces of the couple and recognized Amanda and Zull Mort. That must have been the apartment he got transcasted to. Positive that Peter had the coordinates written down Zander tapped his communicator and told Emil, “12 o’clock across the park on the top floor. It likes red. Over.”
Emil couldn’t respond while they were in the café. He pretended he had to scratch his ear and tapped the communicator letting the surrounding noises get to Zander as a response. Zander heard Emil and Evan paying for something and then leaving the café. Zander heard sleigh bells ringing and then a door being closed. Then Emil and Evan showed on the sidewalk. When they had gotten out of the café, Zander followed them on the screen all the way to the car. Emil was balancing a family-size pizza box and Evan had a two-liter soda bottle in her hands. On the other screen Zander put up the image from the balcony and tracked both screens until Emil and Evan entered the minivan but Mort and Amanda didn’t come out again.
“We just had breakfast.” Zander said when Emil and Evan got in. “And why did you buy more liquids?” He looked at Evan and the soda.
“The bathroom was for customers only,” Emil said matter-of-factly.
“Come on. If we’re to stay here until five pm, you’ll get hungry. You’re human too, aren’t you?” Evan said.
“Can you show me?” Emil moved over to the rear seat through the car. He took a huge step stretching his legs over the small console between the front-row seats and knelt on the backseat next to Evan. He was paying close attention to the images on the middle screen.
“They’re inside now. Look at the recording. Top floor, that building,” Zander pulled up the recording and they saw Amanda and Mort on the balcony. Zander had included the audio from the same area but for the duration of the recording the people on the balcony didn’t speak. Their lips were not moving at all. Only Mort’s ginger hair was glistening in the sun.
“Don’t worry, we’ll think of something,” Zander said, noticing Evan’s anxiety level rising.
Chapter 25
At 4:45 in the afternoon, a black, luxurious sedan stopped at the corner of 5th Avenue and 23rd Street. An Asian-looking driver with spiky hair opened the passenger’s door and bowed politely. Professor Shtuttgart got out of the car, then turned back and pulled out a carry-on black suitcase and headed toward Madison Square Park. He walked slowly, rolling the suitcase behind him.
“The professor’s here,” Zander said from the third-row seat. He switched to the camera pointed at the building where he had seen Mort and inspected the area. The balcony on the top floor was empty. Zander puffed hitting his knee with a fist. Mort had access to the same kind of technology as their team and most likely was relaxing inside in front of the monitors observing the images from cameras he had placed earlier everywhere in the area.
Evan kneeled on her seat and looked back at one of the screens. Seeing her father made her smile. She carefully watched his every move while Zander switched between cameras and adjusted their positions inspecting the surroundings on the other two screens.
The professor reached a bench, checked that it was clean and sat down. He was wearing a black suit under a dark gray coat. The ensemble was topped with a white woolen scarf and a black hat. He placed his hat on the bench next to him and started leisurely watching the birds and the passersby enjoying the sunny late September afternoon.
Zander tapped his communicator and said, “All clear.”
At 4:59 the professor got up, put his hat on and rolled the suitcase to the red garbage bin at the rendezvous point. He stopped, opened the suitcase, and dropped five big paper packages into the bin, then closed the suitcase and left.
Zander monitored the area on the screen while Emil looked around through the windshield. Everything seemed normal. Nobody’s actions or behavior stood out. The city life went on as it did five hours ago.
“This doesn’t feel right,” Emil hid a loaded transcaster gun under his jacket and left the car.
“No, no, no! You’re staying here with me,” Zander tried locking the car doors from the back seat but found only a window control. Evan was faster. She slid through the door and ran toward her father.
“Tweety’s in the wild,” Zander said in his communicator. He quickly pushed the second row seat up and left the car. “I’m out to follow.”
“The pearls!” Mary’s frightened voice came to his ear piece.
“Shoot!” Zander stopped in his tracks. He abruptly returned to the minivan, closed and locked all doors, then sped after Evan.
“Thanks. I’ll take over the surveillance.” Mary said.
They were all out: the professor was walking slowly back to the black luxurious sedan at the corner of 5th and 23rd; Evan was running toward him trying not to get killed while jay walking across Broadway, and Zander was following her from a distance.
Emil made it to the trash bin when he heard Mary’s voice in the communicator, “They’re at the car.”
Emil glanced at the trash bin and seeing the five packages laying intact, he rapidly changed direction, trying not to panic the people around him. He was now going back to the minivan where the five original pearls were, where Mort was closer to them than anyone from their team.
Emil focused on the group at the minivan. Zull Mort was trying to open the driver’s door as Amanda stood by with something resembling a flashlight in her hand. The Chancellor had given them device like that one and with its help they had discovered the hiding place of the other four pearls. This was a subconscious readings catcher.
Making his way back Emil swirled around a couple with a happy little girl in a stroller and barely avoided two slow moving old ladies who were complaining to each other from the winter weather to come. As he was moving across the intersection he kept an eye on Zander who was rushing back as well.
“Watch out” Emil warned him about the truck speeding in his direction.
“You watch out!” a teenager with a huge backpack dribbling a basketball looked angrily at Emil as he passed by.
Emil ignored him, eyes searching for Zander and trying to keep track of Mort and his actions at the same time. He spotted Zander on the island next to the food cart going back to the minivan and hurried his steps. Attacking Mort from a closer distance was their best chance. There were too many people in the area.
After a few seconds Zander reached the minivan unnoticed and concentrated on Mort and Amanda at the other side. They were still arguing whether to transcast the whole car or to break in and take only the pearls. Standing behind the vehicle, Zander felt how the whole car shook violently as Mort tried to open the driver’s door. Obviously Zander wasn’t the only one having problems doing that. He smiled, remembering how Emil proved to be the one with the “magic touch” when both of them were deciding who would drive the minivan after they bought it.
Mort put his left palm over the driver’s door lock, smiled to his own reflection in the window and shot. The sound was muffled by the traffic noise. Zander ducked and moved toward the back of the car.<
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Happy about how easy it was to break in, Mort pressed the buttons on the dashboard and automatically opened the two sliding doors and the tailgate. Zander barely avoided them. He moved to the far side of the minivan and monitored Mort and Amanda through the windows. From there he saw Emil peeking behind the corner building, then moving behind Amanda and catching both her hands at her back.
“Don’t move!” Emil’s voice stopped Mort from rummaging inside the car.
“I see you’ve come to bring me the keys, but I managed on my own.” Mort’s smile looked like a grimace as he pointed his left palm at Emil.
“Lower your weapon Mort,” Emil replied.
“Give me the pearls and I’ll spare your life,” Mort roared. “I know you work for them now.”
“The pearls are in the red trash bin over there,” Emil said.
“I’m not so sure this is correct,” Mort moved closer to Amanda and Emil.
“Here they are! Take them!” Mort heard Zander’s voice from behind. He pulled the side mirror of the car with his right hand and looked at it to locate Zander without taking his aim off Emil.
“You’re surrounded, Mort,” Emil said. “It may be a good time to give up.”
There was red flash without a sound and Emil and Amanda fell onto the sidewalk. Then Mort turned abruptly toward Zander. There was not much time to think. There was nothing between then and the distance was too short for Zander to try anything better. He fell on the ground and spread himself on the sidewalk just in time to hear the car behind him explode.
“Are you okay?” He heard Peter’s voice and felt someone pulling him up. Peter stood behind the minivan, right under the tailgate.
Zander didn’t even nod. Mort was moving closer and his left palm was clearly pointed at Zander’s head.
“Now you’re going to give me the pearls!” Mort said slowly, pointing to the duffle bag in Zander’s hand. “And I’ll let you go ... I’ll let both of you go,” he corrected himself, realizing that the guy behind Zander might be his partner.
Zander and Peter flinched. Zander had left the car in a hurry, forgetting his transcaster gun in the back seat and Peter never carried one unless he was retrieving someone after an accident. Trying to avoid getting both of them killed, Zander pushed Peter and they both started to slowly move toward the back of the minivan.
“Hey, hey, hey! Don’t try to run away, now!” Mort said. “Just drop the bag with the pearls first.”
“The real ones are still in the minivan,” Zander nodded toward the open tailgate, “in those blue bags.”
“Don’t you dare LIE to me!” Mort raised his voice. “Give me this bag first!” he yelled, pointing to the one in Zander’s hand. “Slowly throw it to me,” he said in what was meant to be a calm and convincing tone.
He caught the bag in midair, gently laid it down on the sidewalk and knelt to open it. He felt the bag’s content with his right hand while still aiming his left palm at Zander. Inside the bag, Mort felt a steering wheel lock, a reflecting triangle and a box with a big label that had started to tear off. He peeked and saw a first aid kit.
“You lied!” Mort cried and kicked the useless bag toward the building behind him. “The pearls are not in this bag!” He was raising his voice higher with every word, moving closer to Zander until he had his left palm just a few inches away from Zander’s forehead. “If I shoot you from this distance they won’t be able to say which piece was yours,” he touched Peter’s shoulder, “and which one was yours,” Mort said, touching Zander’s shoulder. The three men stared at each other, evaluating their chances and considering their next step.
“Don’t you dare to move!” Evan’s voice surprised Mort from the left. He had been too focused on the bags to see her come from the corner and take the steering wheel lock out of the duffle he’d pushed away. Without further notice Evan swung the steering wheel lock and broke Mort’s left arm just above the wrist. The rod fell out of her hands and bounced on the sidewalk making a loud, metallic noise that echoed between the buildings.
Zull Mort yelled in pain and instinctively pulled his wounded hand closer to his body, holding it tightly. Zander pinned him to the ground.
“Peter, get the transcaster gun form the third-row seat!” Zander shouted, pressing Mort to the pavement as hard as he could.
“Is it properly set?” Peter asked, loading a bullet. “It says 120624240305.”
“Yeah. Fire it on my signal!” Zander said.
Mort tried to push back but Zander pressed harder, putting his knee in the middle of Mort’s back, pulling both his arms away from the pavement. Mort moaned and gave up.
“Now!” Zander yelled and got up, leaving Mort alone on the sidewalk as Peter fired.
Zander searched for Evan. Trying to catch her breath she was resting on her knees looking down. She had used so much force in the blow that had fallen on the sidewalk next to the steering wheel lock.
“Where’s - “ Peter found Emil before he could finish the sentence. The leader of their group was lying under Amanda, as they had fallen when Mort fired his weapon at them. Amanda was dead. Zander moved her away. He kneeled over Emil and checked his vitals. He lifted the damaged left front side of Emil’s jacket and saw the blood on his clothes.
“He’s alive,” Zander said in the communicator. The wound didn’t look as bad as Zander had feared.
“Don’t hold her too tight and remember that he will aim to his right,” Emil whispered with his eyes closed.
“Bring him into the minivan!” Mary said. “We’ll swap cars on our way back. I’m coming.”
Peter cleaned the third row seat, putting all the equipment in the trunk and helped Zander move Emil. His breathing was faint but stable.
Mary parked the luxury sedan behind the minivan, where the car that Mort blew up used to be, and the Shtuttgarts rushed out at once.
“Mom! Dad!” Evan cried and ran to hug her parents.
The professor and his wife couldn’t resist hugging their daughter. They had watched everything from the surveillance cameras and were relieved that she was safe and sound. They were kissing her head and seeing her from a whole new perspective. Her father held her shoulders, looked into her eyes and smiled.
“Where did that strength come from?” he asked.
Evan shrugged and smiled back. Then she hugged her father back and said, “I love you, Dad.”
Her mother joined the group hug and Evan added, “I love you, Mom,” wondering why she had hated them before.
“Peter, you go with the Shtuttgarts. Zander will drive with us.” Mary had a small package in her hand and was ready to get in the minivan.
“Where to?” Peter asked.
“Back to 14 Pebble Drive. Residents cannot be transcasted,” Zander said.
Chapter 26
The group arrived at 14 Pebble Drive in Hamptonville, Massachusetts, around midnight. The two cars stopped in the driveway in front of a modern colonial with a big front porch. The house was dark. Allie had gone to bed. She knew that her parents wouldn’t return until the next day and that her sister was probably still at the party. Being a gamer, she was most likely spending her time with her favorite video games. That meant she hadn’t answered the phone or the door and had missed the local news about the Thunder Gate Mill residence and the explosion at the Sage’s house.
The Shtuttgarts got out of the car and stretched their legs and arms. The professor headed to the front door while Evan and her mother followed Peter to the minivan. The side window opened and Emil waved from the back seat. A small white pillow with a red cross and the words “med-pack” written on the front had been placed over his wound. He looked much better than the last time they’d seen him in New York. Whatever that med pack was doing it seemed to have sped up the healing process.
“Did you clean his apartment?” Emil asked.
“Everything’s in the other car. We’ve got a lot of souvenirs,” Peter replied.
“Come inside. All of you!” Agatha
invited the Anaconda team. “I’ll prepare the guest rooms. You have had a very rough day.” She headed toward the house.
Evan stood next to the minivan as Mary and Emil got out, then leaned on the side door. Zander was still searching for something in the car and she wanted to be close to him even if she had to spend the night on the driveway.
“Here, this’ll warm you up,” He put his jacket on her shoulders.
She looked at him, “Will you call me?”
He wanted to say, “Of course, every day” but instead he muttered, “I can’t.” The burden of the mission felt heavier than a few hours ago. He hugged her and she rested her head on his chest. Eyes closed she listened to his heart. It had a powerful and rhythmical beat that made her feel safe and secure.
They didn’t have to talk when they were together. They could simply stay close to each other wrapped in silence and feel totally content with the experience. Her hands pulled the jacket closer and she felt something in the inner pocket. It looked like the small, thick blue lifesavers Zander was fumbling with those days. Seeing that as the perfect souvenir she hid one in her pocket.
The windows of the house started to light up one after another. Evan was able to tell what was going on in the house just by looking at the rhythm of the lights being switched on and off. Right now her mother was preparing the guest rooms as promised, taking sheets and blankets from the big closet in the crafts room. She was the perfect host, the most welcoming person in the world. Some days Evan thought that her mother was more suited to work in the hospitality industry or as a social worker than as an archeologist just because one couldn’t make friends with the mummies.
Zander and Evan stood motionless; she in his arms, both leaned on the minivan, everyone in their own thoughts. He had started to play with her hair, carefully twisting it around his fingers, enjoying its liveliness and softness. The light wind was cold enough to be refreshing. It had the slight scent of winter, the type of scent that made you think about snow and stories by the fire. The owl living in the neighbors’ barn started his night rounds. They could hear it screeching from the forest.
