The Gryphon Project

by Carrie Mac

  “No. I can’t. That’s not Saul. And I can’t be around somebody pretending to be him, true or not.”

  “It is Saul.”

  “It’s not!” Nadia gave Phee a shove. “Now go. Just go. Okay?”

  Phee moved to hug her, but Nadia held up her arms, refusing. “Not now.”

  “But—”

  “Go, Phoenix. You have to go.”

  Phee checked her time on her phone again. She did have to go. Right now.

  “You’ll be okay? You won’t do anything crazy?”

  “I’ll be fine.” She let Phee hug her now. Phee clung to her best friend, and could feel that her whole being was vibrating with what she could only imagine was shock and confusion and fear. “You go.”

  “You won’t come with me?”

  Nadia shook her head.

  “You can’t stay here alone.”

  Nadia looked around. It was true. The Cannery was no place to hang out in the midst of a crisis.

  “Come with me.” Phee took her hand. “I’ll put you on the train. You go home. Tell your parents that Neko is with me.” At the mention of his name, fresh panic swept over Phee in a cold wave that nearly knocked her off her feet. She didn’t know what was going to happen to Neko. She didn’t know what was going to happen to any of them.

  “One thing at a time,” she said as much to herself as to Nadia. “One thing at a time, okay?”

  Crying now, Nadia nodded. “I trust you, Phee. You’ll fix it. You always fix things.”

  Phee didn’t know what to say to that. She led her friend up the stairs. They waited as far away from the boys as possible. Phee glanced over at the small group, and shook her head when Marlin made as if to come to them. He stepped back, shoulders slumped.

  The train came, and Phee ushered Nadia onto it with strict instructions to text her when she got home safely. She told her she’d come over as soon as she could.

  “Don’t hurry, Phee,” Nadia said as the bell sounded, announcing that the train was seconds away from leaving. “You be with your family. Today is about Gryph.”

  But today wasn’t just about Gryph. It was about Neko too. And Nadia had no idea.

  “Love you, Nad.” Phee waved as the doors closed.

  “Love you, Phee.” Nadia, still sobbing, waved as the train pulled away.

  PHEE RAN BACK to the boys. They watched her approach, Tariq and Huy and Neko with steely gazes and in stony silence. Only Marlin spoke.

  “What did she say?”

  “Not much.” Phee glanced at the silent threesome. “She needs time.”

  “And she’s got time,” Huy grumbled. “As much time as she wants. But Gryph doesn’t. So what are we going to do about it?” He turned his attention to Neko, who looked as though he’d lost weight from his already skinny frame in the time since Gryphon’s death. “What are we going to do about it, Neko?”

  Neko paled. “I don’t know.”

  “You begged us to give you time,” Huy continued on, his tone cold. “There’s no more time, Neko.”

  Clearly, Marlin had fully explained himself in Phee’s absence, because the boys—in true male fashion—had moved away from the surprise and shock and straight to the business at hand. Gryph. Phee glanced at the clock above the elevator. An hour and ten minutes. Tariq looked at the clock too, then at Marlin.

  “So?”

  “So obviously I didn’t pick today to tell you what happened to me because I wanted my old life back.” Marlin cleared his throat. “I picked today because I think I have a way out of this for Neko. A way that will bring Gryphon back.”

  Neko lifted his red-rimmed eyes. “You do?”

  Huy brightened. “What is it?”

  Tariq turned to Phee. “You trust him?”

  “I do.” Phee moved closer to Marlin. “He’s changed on the outside, but he’s still Saul on the inside.”

  “What a crock of shit.” Huy rolled his eyes. “You want that on a T-shirt, Phoenix? Because that’s where a line like that belongs.”

  “We don’t have time for this,” Marlin said. “We really and truly don’t. I’m sorry that I didn’t come forward earlier, but I thought you guys would figure something out on your own.”

  Tariq and Huy and Neko shared a guilty look. They hadn’t figured anything out. And with an hour left, they still had no clue how to get Gryphon back and keep Neko safe at the same time.

  “But you didn’t,” Marlin said. “So here I am. Hate me, don’t hate me. Trust me, don’t trust me. It doesn’t matter. You have no other option, do you?”

  The three other boys shared that same look again, before Tariq spoke for all of them. “Okay. We’ll go along with whatever you have in mind.”

  Huy aimed a sneer at Marlin. “But don’t expect us to be all buddy-buddy with you, because at best … at best … you are a liar. You’ve lied to us since we were five years old. And at worst—”

  “Guys!” Neko broke in. “The time,” he whispered, pointing up to the clock. Exactly an hour left before Gryph’s fate was decided once and for all. “Please, let’s go.”

  MARLIN LED THEM down the stairs and out into the daylight. Phee was surprised that he was taking them in the direction of the illegal recon lab, but she didn’t say anything. There was no time for questions. He led them past the CAPTAIN MURPHY’S FAMOUS FISH STICKS sign and right up to the very same door Phee had gone through not long ago, when all of this was as much a mystery to her as it was to the boys right now. But this time, Marlin opened the door and ushered them all in without a word about what they were about to see or had to keep secret. Phee hesitated, waiting for the boys to go in ahead of her. When she went inside, it took only a few seconds for her to register what she was seeing. Or not seeing. The lab had been dismantled. Not a trace of it remained. Except for Polly, who sat in a lone chair in the middle of what now was just a big, damp warehouse.

  CONFESSION

  The boys stood in a half circle around the chair while Marlin introduced Polly, not by name, though, only as his friend.

  Polly nodded at Phee. “Good to see you again.”

  “Again?” Huy turned on her. “You know about this place?”

  “Quiet,” Tariq ordered. Huy crossed his arms and sulked while Polly began setting up a small camera and a smaller box with some sort of screen.

  “What is all this?” Neko asked, his voice shaking. “Why are we here?”

  “It’ll be okay, Neko,” Phee assured him, hoping that she was right. She trusted Marlin not to put Neko in harm’s way, because of his love for Nadia, no matter how conflicted Nadia was about it all.

  Marlin addressed the group. “Listen to me closely. This is how it’s going to go—”

  “Maybe,” Huy interrupted. “If we agree to it.”

  Tariq shot Huy another harsh look.

  “This is how it’s going to go,” Marlin began again. “Because there is no other way.” He paused with a glance at Huy, waiting for his objections. None came this time. Marlin checked his watch. “Thirty-five minutes until the ruling. We have that much time to make this happen.”

  Phee’s heart pounded in her chest, objecting to all of this. It wasn’t possible! Whatever Marlin had in mind, there wasn’t time! Her heart thumped and thumped, as if saying no way, no way, no way. Phee strained to hear Marlin speak.

  “Neko will confess, and we’ll tape it. We’ll send it to Chrysalis.”

  “No,” Neko said. “I’m not doing it. I don’t care who the fuck you say you are, Saul would never ask me to do that. Never!”

  “I am asking you to do this. It’s the only way to save you and Gryph.”

  “How the hell does that save me, huh?” Neko asked. “How?”

  “You’ll be reconned.”

  Huy’s eyes widened. “What?”

  “How?” Tariq asked.

  “Where?” Phee looked around. “Clearly not here.”

  “You guys don’t need to know any of that,” Marlin said. “You just have to trust me.”

/>   “This is crazy.” Neko started backing away, but he backed right into Tariq, who’d placed himself behind him, blocking the way to the door. “Let me go.”

  “Just listen, Neko.” Tariq placed a firm hand on Neko’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about who he is or what his motivations are. Just listen.”

  “Please,” Huy added. “For Gryphon.”

  Neko clamped his mouth shut and glared at Marlin.

  “You will have a new identity. They’ll never connect the new you to the old Neko. You can live the rest of your life without worrying that they’ll find you.”

  “And I lose everything.”

  “You stay alive.”

  It could work. Phee’s heart slowed with relief. It could really work! Neko might lose his family, his school, his friends. But that was better than losing his life! And Gryph would come home. “Would he go with you?” She directed the question to Marlin.

  “Yes.”

  “Hell, I won’t.” Neko raised his eyebrows, arms crossed defiantly. “No one can make me do this. I’m sorry about what—” His words started to catch in his throat. He dropped his chin to his chest to regain composure. After a moment he looked up at Phee. “I’m so sorry, Phee. It was an accident. I never meant to hurt him like that.”

  “I know you’re sorry.” Phee offered him a small smile. “But it did happen. And you’re the one Chrysalis will blame. You’re the only one who can make this right. You’re the only one who can bring him back, Neko.”

  “But what about my parents?” Tears streamed down his face. “What about Nadia?”

  “They’ll think you ran away,” Marlin said. “ To avoid being decommed. Tariq and Huy will tell them so. They’ll think that you’re healthy and safe. And that is far better than being dead. Isn’t it?”

  After another long moment, Neko nodded. “I get it.”

  “You’ll do it?”

  “I’ll do it.” With those few words, Neko grew up. Something in him shifted, and he was ready to do what was right.

  “Twenty minutes,” Polly broke in, camera in hand. “I’m ready when you are.”

  Marlin gripped Neko’s other shoulder. “Ready to do this?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re sure about this?” Tariq asked.

  Neko shrugged. “Does it matter? We’re doing it anyway. He’s right. I don’t have another option, unless Gryph stays dead. I don’t want that.”

  Marlin steered Neko to the chair. Polly set the camera on a tripod before sliding the small screen in front of him.

  “This is a bio lock,” she explained as she slid a thin glove over one of his hands. “It guarantees that the next transmission sent from this camera is from you and no one else. It proves this isn’t a fake, or doctored.” She wrapped a slender band around each of his wrists. “And these tell them that you’re telling the truth.” She pointed to the small screen, where Neko’s heart rhythm was now dancing in irregular waves. “You have to calm down, son.”

  “I’ll try.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his mouth.

  Phee took Neko’s hand. “Thank you, Neko.”

  “I just hope it works.”

  “Thank you.” Phee hugged him, and the thought was not lost on her that this was probably his last day as Neko Balkashan. After this, he would be forever changed. But he would be alive. And Gryph too. That’s what mattered. Both boys would live.

  THE ONLY SOUND in the warehouse was the cooing of the pigeons roosting in the rafters, and Neko trying to steady his breathing. Polly set up the camera, checked the bio locks, and stepped back. She nodded. Neko stared at the camera, at the devices on his wrist like handcuffs. He dropped his gaze to the floor.

  Phee stood to the side with the others. Would he go through with it? Was he changing his mind now? Phee checked her phone for the time, ignoring the twelve messages, all from her parents. Eleven minutes until the ruling. They all shuffled silently, not wanting their voices on the tape. Phee willed Neko to look up, to start speaking. To get this over with.

  Finally, with nine minutes left before Chrysalis announced Gryph’s fate, Neko lifted his head and started talking, his voice trembling, his eyes damp.

  “This is an important message for the Chrysalis Corporation. My name is Neko Balkashan and I am making this tape of my own free will. This is my confession. I caused the death of Gryphon Nicholson-Lalonde. I did it. I pushed him off the train platform. I won’t make excuses because I know—” Neko gritted his teeth against tears. “Because I know what happens to people like me. You’ll kill me no matter what I say, no matter how remorseful I am. You’ll kill me and call it ‘decommissioning’ and it’ll be the news for a couple of days and then it’ll be everything back to normal. If my death even makes the news.”

  Phee glanced at Marlin. This wasn’t exactly what Phee was thinking of when it came to an official confession. But then Neko spoke the magic words again in an angry rush.

  “I did it,” Neko said. “I pushed him. He didn’t jump. Do you assholes hear me? He did not jump. And you’re all complete idiots if you think he would. So there it is. Blame me. Hunt me down. I’m your bad guy. Just let Gryphon go home to his family.” This time Neko couldn’t help the tears. “Let him live.”

  Polly switched the camera off remotely. Neko leaped up from the chair and started to pull off the bio locks.

  “Not yet,” Polly ordered. “After we send the transmission.” Neko slumped back onto the chair as Huy and Tariq gathered around him.

  “You did the right thing.” Huy bent to hug him, but Neko shrugged him off.

  “Don’t touch me.”

  Marlin clapped a hand on Neko’s back. “It’ll be okay, Neko.”

  “I said don’t fucking touch me! None of you.” Neko pointed a finger at each of the boys and then at Phee too. “Don’t come near me.”

  Polly looked up from the small console. “It’s sent.”

  With that, Neko ripped off the glove and wristbands and threw them to the floor. “Happy? Everyone happy now that my life is ruined?”

  “It’s not ruined,” Polly said. As she tried to calm Neko, Marlin told Phee to call Chrysalis.

  “Tell them who you are and that you have to speak to Nora Hueson immediately,” he whispered as Phee fumbled to find the number online. “Hurry!”

  Five minutes left. She made the call, and then waited while the receptionist put her on hold.

  Huy surfed on his phone for a live news feed from Chrysalis. He stared at the screen. “They’re already talking!” He waved his phone for everyone to see. Phee rushed over. There on the tiny screen was Nora Hueson, standing at a podium on the front steps of Chrysalis, the blue sky behind her. The camera panned to the left, where Phee’s family sat in the front row. Oscar and Eva sat erect, not touching. Phee started to cry, her own phone still to her ear.

  The sound from Huy’s phone was tinny, but they could make out what Hueson was saying. “It is with heavy hearts that we make today’s ruling in the recon case regarding Gryphon Nicholson-Lalonde.” And then Shapiro was suddenly at Hueson’s side, cupping her hand to Hueson’s ear to whisper something to her. Hueson nodded, and then addressed the crowd. “If you will excuse me for just one moment.”

  The news camera followed her offstage where she took the phone from Shapiro. All of a sudden Phee heard Hueson’s voice in her own ear.

  “Phoenix?”

  “Ms. Hueson.” Phee had almost forgotten what she was supposed to be doing. “Wait, wait. I have some important information,” she stammered. Beside her, Marlin nodded, encouraging her. “Chrysalis has just been sent a confession from the boy who pushed Gryphon.”

  “Now, Phoenix, I know you’re upset about the ruling—”

  “It’s real!” Phoenix yelled into the phone. “With bio locks and everything! That’s proof!”

  Hueson paused before speaking again. Phee could only hope that she was telling Shapiro to check the lync for the transmission. Phee glanced at Huy’s phone. The camer
a was trained on her family. Oscar and Eva were talking. Fawn leaned against her mother, Bunny clutched in her arms. Phee was supposed to have been there. She should have been there. She prayed that this would work, because if it didn’t she’d never forgive herself for abandoning her family at such an awful time. The camera panned left, to an empty chair beside her father. Phee started crying. She should have been there.

  “Phoenix?” Hueson was back on the line. “Are you with this boy right now?” She’d watched the video! She believed it!

  “No.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Nowhere.”

  “Tell me where you are, Phoenix. If you have that boy with you, you must turn him in. Do you understand me?”

  “I’m not with him.”

  “Then why aren’t you here with your family?” Hueson’s tone was patronizing. She was trying to get Phee to talk. On Huy’s small screen, Phee watched Shapiro usher her family into the building, and then she took the podium, announcing that the news conference was cancelled. Indefinitely.

  “You’ll recon him?” Phee asked. “He’s going to be okay?”

  “Where are you, Phoenix?”

  Marlin grabbed the phone and ended the call. “They’re tracking you.” He took Huy’s too, powering them both off. Tariq did the same to his. Neko too. Polly powered down the camera equipment so they couldn’t trace that either. The small group stood for a moment in the middle of the old warehouse, and then Marlin spoke.

  “We have to go. Tariq and Huy, you go with Phoenix. Get her to her parents.” Marlin turned to Neko, who was pale, his eyes still wet with tears. “I’ll take Neko. Polly, you do as we planned.” And with that, he took Neko by the arm and made for the door. “Now! They might’ve already traced you here, Phee. Go!”

  But she couldn’t move. She could only stand there and watch her best friend’s little brother leave. She’d never see him again. Nadia and her parents would never see him again. This was it!

  “Neko!” She ran to him and hugged him. “Thank you. Thank you.”

  He stiffened in her arms. She pulled away a little and looked up at him.

  “Be strong, okay? I’ll take care of Nadia. Marlin will take good care of you.”