by J C Lane
“Ignore him,” Sydney said. “He’s not worth bothering about, but at least he’ll keep everyone else from asking about you, or sitting by you.”
Their lunch came, and Laura picked at hers. She wasn’t really hungry. Sydney and Adam and the guys ate like it had been a week since breakfast. She ended up giving most of her lunch to Adam. Sydney gave her a look again, and Laura wondered if maybe she should have offered her leftovers to someone else.
hic
“You’re looking all weird again,” Adam said to Sydney.
Sydney blinked. “I guess I look weird when I think.”
Or when she was angry and jealous.
“Maybe I should take off once we dock,” Laura said. “You guys are already in enough trouble.”
“Trouble?” Sydney rolled her eyes. “I’m always in trouble. People say I talk too much.” She stared at Adam, as if daring him to respond. He didn’t. “And why would you run away? We’ve already told you we’ll help.”
“But I feel bad, taking you away from your field trip.”
“Are you kidding me? This is the lamest trip ever. The only reason I’m doing it is I need extra credit for social studies. Him, too.” She gestured to her brother. “And the only reason Adam came along is ’cause I made him, so I wouldn’t be completely bored to death.”
Laura glanced at Adam, who nodded. “It’s true. I’d rather be home watching football. But when Sydney wants something, she gets it. Ow!” He pulled his foot back, making his thigh push against Laura’s. She crossed her legs the other direction to avoid touching him, but bumped into Sydney’s brother. Between a potential boyfriend and a brother. Not the best place to be when you wanted to keep a girl on your side.
Laura’s watch buzzed, signaling the coordinates transmission. Sydney and Adam heard it too, but didn’t say anything. They glanced around, as if Brandy Inkrott would suddenly appear.
“It’s like I told you.” Sydney continued to eat, and pretended nothing had just happened. “There’s hardly enough time to even do anything at the different sites. It’s like they want us to know what’s here, but not actually experience it. Doesn’t matter, anyway. I’ve been to Chicago tons of times. Shopping, concerts, museums when I was little, you know.” She piled her silverware and napkin on her plate. “Adam’s been here for ballgames and stuff, and his parents made him go to the symphony one time.” She laughed.
“I’ve been there,” Laura said. “I liked it.”
Adam smiled. “Yeah, it’s cooler than she thinks.”
“At least his parents made him dress up,” Sydney said. “It would be worth going just for that.”
Laura smiled at Sydney. “I’m sure he cleans up well.”
“Hey,” Adam said, “I’m clean today.”
Sydney snorted. “In a faded jersey and ripped jeans. We’re talking about dress pants and a tie.”
He made a face.
The boat chugged along until the engines grew louder and the boat slowed, having come back around to the quay where they’d boarded. Laura couldn’t remember anything they’d seen on the way.
“How long till the next signal?” Sydney said.
“Three minutes.”
“It should take the crew that long to dock and get the landing stage ready. That’s good.”
She was right. Laura’s watch buzzed just as the plank was lowered for them to disembark.
“Stay in the middle,” Sydney said. “I’ll go first, since I know what she looks like.”
“Her guys are all big, wearing suits.”
“Roger that.”
Sydney’s brother and his friends made a great barrier as they left, loud and big, and Laura hid behind them.
“Syd’s waving,” Adam said. “I guess we’re good.”
Laura sighed. “So, back on the bus?” It felt like an unending circle, with her running but not getting any closer to Home Base. She hung onto Adam’s arm as she limped up the ramp, but got a look at Sydney’s serious face when they reached her. Laura quickly let go, distancing herself from Adam.
Sydney pulled her toward the bus so fast Laura ended up hopping the last few steps. On the bus Sydney pushed Laura into their usual seat and made Adam sit next to her. She narrowed her eyes, looking back and forth between them.
“Sydney,” Laura said, “there’s nothing going on.”
Sydney’s forehead wrinkled. “Nothing going on with what?”
Whoops. Laura cleared her throat. “Never mind.”
Sydney’s eyes swiveled back and forth, from Adam’s face to Laura’s. Laura’s stomach flipped.
“Why are you looking at us like that?” Adam said.
Sydney smiled a slow, sly smile. “Because, my lovelies, I have a plan.”
Charles
And she was off. Charles sat and watched her run, arms and legs flapping. Not exactly an athlete. But he wasn’t either, so who was he to judge? Besides, he was after her for her brain, not her body.
Although what he’d seen he’d liked, as far as that went.
He bought coffee from a vendor and sat in a cast-iron chair under a tree as people flowed past, to and from the planetarium. He didn’t notice them. Didn’t care about them. None of them would give him a challenge. He had begun to worry that Amanda wouldn’t, either. But he thought the new Game would give her incentive. Even down-in-the-basement gamers wanted to live. They might want to live in their own dank, little world, and they might want to believe they actually lived through their avatars, but when it came right down to it, they all—especially someone as brilliant as Amanda—realized that real life was more thrilling. Or at least that if you wanted to play video games, your actual body needed to exist.
He sipped his coffee and breathed in the fresh air. Being outside did have some advantages. For the first time in months—years?—he felt like maybe there was something to the whole “outdoors” thing his parents and other adults yammered about. Maybe.
The Executive Limousine Service’s web page was simple and to the point, and they had excellent ratings. He called the number, said he would pay them a large bonus if they had a car for him at noon, and was assured he would be taken care of. Excellent.
The counter on his watch reached zero, and his wrist vibrated. Amanda was in front of the Blackstone Hotel. She’d gotten pretty far for such a small dungeon dweller. Charles stood, pushed in his chair, and climbed into the limo that pulled up to the curb.
12 noon
Amanda
Ten minutes after the noon transmission, the cab dropped Amanda off at a small computer training center.
“I don’t have my student ID,” she told the guy behind the counter. He looked like she imagined most of her cyber friends did in real life. Fluffy. Pimply. Long, scraggly hair. But friendly. Ready to be convinced to do anything for the cute geek girl.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you on a computer without ID,” he said.
“I’ll give you unreleased hacks to the new Call of Duty.”
He twitched. “You got a deal as long as it’s something I haven’t already found myself.”
She held out her hand for a pen and paper, scribbled for thirty seconds, and handed him the note. His eyes widened, and he breathed through his mouth. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
He giggled and held the paper against his chest, his eyes darting side to side. “Computer number six. Password is Firefly231. Sign here.”
Amanda scrawled a fake name and slid into the station, letting her fingers fly. Within a minute she was in a secret chat room known only to her, Nerys, and a few other people she’d met through the years. She wrote a coded message only Nerys would understand, and waited. And waited. And waited some more. “Come on, Nerys, you big, fat Neanderthal. Be there. Come on.”
Hello, my darling. What’s with the secrecy? Have you finally realiz
ed I’m the man for you?
Thank God. I need help.
I’ve been telling you that since we met.
I’m serious. Please, please, will you help me?
A pause. You must be desperate to let me see you this way.
I am.
Does this have to do with the Asian dudette?
Yes.
Tell me.
If you help me, you could be in danger, too.
I live for the thrill. TELL ME.
She did.
We need to get you somewhere safe. Where are you, exactly?
Chicago. New Horizons Computer School.
Give me a minute.
She didn’t have many minutes, so using them to wait for someone—especially Nerys—got Amanda squirming. She jumped up and paced behind her seat. Her watch buzzed with her twelve-thirty location transmission, and she had just decided to make a run for it when the screen changed.
Here’s what you’re going to do…
12:30 p.m.
Amanda
Amanda closed out the chat room, erased her virtual tracks, and raced outside, only partially noticing the crowd of geeks surrounding the now-popular counter guy. He called after her, but she couldn’t stop. She barreled down the sidewalk, waving at every taxi she saw until one swerved to the curb. She dove in and shouted the address. “I’ll give you double if you get me there within ten minutes.”
The driver screeched into traffic, throwing Amanda across the backseat. She strapped herself in, praying Nerys’ plan would work. If it didn’t…well, she couldn’t think about that.
The taxi arrived at her destination in eight and a half minutes. Amanda threw forty dollars at the cabbie and raced to the door of the apartment building. Before she could push the buzzer, a girl plowed through the door. “You PeruvianGoddess13?”
Amanda nodded. The girl grabbed her arm and pulled her down the sidewalk. “How much time left?”
“What?”
“In your thirty minutes. Since your last transmission.”
Amanda checked her watch. “Seventeen and a half.”
The girl led her to the nearest El and they beelined it down the steps. The girl bought two tokens and they sprinted through the station, ending up at a platform where the train was just coming in. They jumped onto the car and made their way to the back corner, which was partially hidden from outside. Amanda’s eyes caught on an El map. “Where are we going?”
“Wrigley Field.”
“But It knows that.”
“Trust me. How much time?”
“Sixteen, no, fifteen minutes.”
The train pulled up to the next station, and the girl peered out from the edge of the window. “See anyone familiar?”
“No.”
People got off and on, and the train departed.
“Who are you?” Amanda said.
“Later. How much time?”
“Thirteen.”
Amanda plopped onto a seat along the side of the train car, her feet aching, her head even worse. She rubbed her eyes, then opened them to find herself staring down the car at a huge young man, maybe a teenager, maybe older. His flat eyes met hers across the distance of the train, and she jerked away. Dirty clothes, broken arm. Not the kind of guy she was used to seeing in her neighborhood. At least she was far enough away she wouldn’t be expected to come up with any conversation.
They went five more stops, Amanda avoiding eye contact with the big guy and, instead, studying the girl helping her. She was taller than Amanda, with dyed black hair that set off her pale skin. She wore no jewelry except a small black stud in her nose, but Amanda could see the tip of a tattoo peeking out from the collar of her black T-shirt. Her eyes were outlined in black, too, but other than that, she wore no makeup. Amanda had no idea who she was, except that she was acquainted with Nerys, which wasn’t exactly comforting.
Amanda’s watch counted down to fifty seconds as the train came to a stop.
“Come on.” The girl pulled her off the train onto the platform, and the train whisked away. “Tell me when time is up.”
Amanda held out her wrist and they watched the counter slide to zero. Without a word, the girl ran up the closest set of stairs and down another, and they hopped on a train going west.
Charles
A computer school. How quaint. And how sloppy for Amanda to let her transmission be sent from that location.
Charles instructed the limo driver to wait, and entered the community college equivalent of geek school. Oh, how he’d paid his debt to society in those places, tutoring, designing websites, trying to fit in with the normal people. He shook himself like he was covered in bugs. Being back in the gray-and-white atmosphere was enough to give him brain spasms.
No way would Amanda still be on the premises, but he scanned the room, just in case. Lots of teenagers, adults back in school to achieve that “second career,” geeks making money for their gaming habits. Quite the group.
“Can I help you?”
Charles approached the counter, where students would have to sign in to use the lab. A fat, greasy clerk waited for him, not too patiently because a whole herd of greasy guys surrounded him, awestruck by something on the computer.
“New office system?” Charles said.
The guy’s eyes shuttered. “Did you want to use a computer?”
“Actually, I’m here for my girlfriend. She came by, and thinks she left her phone.”
The guy’s expression changed to one of respect, like he had never seen a human male who had actually convinced a girl to spend time with him. “What’s she look like?”
Charles brought up her photo on his watch. “Name’s Amanda.”
The guy’s eyes lit up. “Sure, she was just here. Name wasn’t Amanda, though.” He slapped the sign-up sheet onto the counter. “Says…” He blushed. “Hot Geek Girl.”
Charles laughed. “That’s what I call her. ’Cause you gotta admit…she is hot.”
“The hottest. Plus, she gave us that code.”
Charles kept the smile on his face. “Which one?”
“She’s got more than one? Man, you are the luckiest.”
“I know.”
“Call of Duty. The code that…you know…”
“Oh, yeah, that.” No wonder the guys were drooling all over the computer. The clerk shifted impatiently, ready to get back to the game. Charles would use that. “Hey, I hate to bother you, but do you know which computer she used? If you tell me quick, I’ll look for that phone.”
“But she had a smartwatch. She wouldn’t have taken it off.”
“It gets itchy sometimes, so when she’s sitting…” Charles shrugged. “She’s not the most organized. Forgets stuff—you know, how girls do.”
“Right. Sure.”
Like this guy would know anything about girls.
Like Charles would.
“Um.” The guy glanced at the sign-in sheet again, but there wasn’t a number by her name. He leaned over the counter and spoke low. “I didn’t actually sign her onto one, because she didn’t have her student ID.”
“Told you,” Charles said. “Flaky.”
“But she was over there, at number six.”
“You’re sure?”
The kid went even redder. “Sure, I’m sure.”
“’Cause you were watching her?”
“I just…she was…”
“I know. Thanks, man. Get back to your game.”
The clerk gave him a thumbs-up and did just that.
Charles slid into the seat at number six and hacked into the history. It was gone. Wiped clean. No matter. Charles glanced at the clerk to make sure he was still busy killing people. He was, so Charles brought out his tablet and downloaded the computer’s entire hard drive. He couldn’t take the time to analyze the
data here, because geek boy would get suspicious.
Charles walked back past the counter, ready to tell the guy he’d found his girlfriend’s phone, but the guy didn’t even look up.
Charles’ watch vibrated.
Hot Geek Girl was on the move.
1 p.m.
Laura
“You want Laura and me to pretend to like each other?” Adam said. “How could that possibly help?”
“Because that’s going to get me on Brandy’s side.”
Laura’s head spun. “But you don’t know Brandy.”
“Not yet. Listen.”
“Young lady in the back,” the bus driver said. “You need to sit down.”
Sydney continued. “I’m not supposed to know who she is, right? I mean, you’re not even supposed to know.”
“Young lady!”
Adam pulled Sydney onto the seat and waved at the driver. “Sorry.”
The driver shook her head and pulled into traffic.
“Right.” Laura was trying to follow Sydney’s logic, but failing.
“So, I’ve been thinking about her social media stuff. Remember what we noticed about it?”
“She’s got no friends, and no boyfriend.”
“Right.”
“And she’s not very pretty,” Adam said. “Or at least, she used to be ugly. But even now she’s not hot like you two.”
“Aw, Adam.” Sydney punched his arm, and her cheeks turned pink. “Listen. She’s got all the things she could ask for. Cars, clothes, concerts, vacations, plastic surgery, even one of those cute little dogs.”
“Dumb dog,” Adam said. “What good is a dog the size of your fist?”
“Anyway,” Sydney said, “this girl is involved in all kinds of stuff, and she owns a lot of things, but it’s not the page of someone who’s got people who actually like her. She obviously doesn’t have anyone who tags her or posts on her page. Probably her parents don’t even like her. I mean, how could you? And, really, if you throw that much money at your kid, something’s wrong, like your whole family is screwed up, right? Not that I would know. It’s not like my family—”
