by Jeff Adams
I hoped TOS knew he was in Denver.
I set it up so if his phone moved, I’d get a text. If that happened, I was at least going to tell Mom regardless of what the consequences might be for me.
“Ton of homework,” I tried to stifle a yawn as I spoke, “plus a client deadline that’s insane.”
He pulled me out of the hallway traffic and leaned against a wall. He embraced me, and I rested my head against his chest. If I wasn’t careful, I’d doze off on him.
“Don’t run yourself ragged.”
We stood silently for a while as the bustle in the hallway intensified as next period drew closer.
“Are you sure that’s all that’s going on?” he finally asked.
“What do you mean?” My voice was muffled since I didn’t move.
“I’ve seen Hurt Theo a lot over the past year, with all the various hockey injuries. I’ve also seen Stressed and Tired Theo when you’re overworking.” He gently moved my head so I looked at him. “You say you’re getting past what happened, but it feels like something else has piled on.”
I craned my head up farther and planted a kiss on his lips. I wish I could tell him what was going on. Mom, John, and I talked a lot last night. Unfortunately there were so few other people I could say anything to. My kidnapping attempt had been public, but what was happening with Dad was top secret. Mom said it’d be okay, but the fact John didn’t echo that proved exactly how bad it was. I suspected Mom was on mom autopilot.
“Nah. I’m just straight up tired. The client work is more than usual. It’s a tough project, and it’s not getting done as fast as they want.”
I rested on his chest again because I liked it there. The warning bell rang. We had two minutes to get to class.
“I don’t know how you manage to do all this, or why you do it.” I shrugged in his arms. “Is there anything I can do?” he asked. The concern in his voice tugged on my heart.
“Let me stay like this for a few hours.”
He gently hugged me tighter.
“I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t go over well. You know how teachers can be. How about we go off campus for lunch and you can rest for a few minutes and I’ll make sure we get back on time.”
This guy was awesome. I’d planned to see during lunch how things were going with Lorenzo, but the truth was that I couldn’t do much while I was at school other than listen to Lorenzo or respond to text messages. Hanging with Eddie would be perfect. He might be less suspicious of what I wasn’t saying, plus I could close my eyes for a few minutes.
“I’d love that. Meet on the front steps at twelve fifteen?”
“It’s a date. We’ll get some food and maybe you can grab a quick nap or something.”
“You think of everything.”
“If I did that, I’d have a way for you to not look like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. I don’t like it. But if I can’t fix that, I’ll at least get you some lunch and a few minutes of rest.”
I pulled out of the hug and gave him another kiss.
“You’re awesome.”
“Yes, I am.” He kissed me again. “We gotta get goin’ or there’s going to be a tardy mark.”
“See you in a few hours.”
“Yup.” He gave me one last kiss before he sprinted off. As I walked into class, which was just a couple of doors away from where we were, I made a promise to myself to do something special for Eddie once this madness was over. He was being a saint. This was the first time since we’d been a couple that I’d had something major going on with TOS, and Eddie was being patient even when he knew I was holding back. Meanwhile, I was learning the art of deception, using him for practice.
Chapter Thirteen
I GOT home from practice and found an extra car parked behind John’s in the driveway.
What if there was news about Dad?
I parked in the garage and couldn’t get out of the car fast enough. The seat belt tangled me. My backpack caught on the center console. If something could get in my way, it did.
Entering the house I found Mom in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with a concerned look on her face. She’d looked like that for days now, but this look had an edge to it. She didn’t like whatever was going on.
“Hey, Mom,” I said hesitantly. “Do I get to know what’s going on? Or should I just go to my room?”
A sad chuckle came out. “We’ve taught you so well.” She sighed. “Maybe too well.”
She gave me a quick, very motherly hug.
“You get to know. Come on, we’re in the office.”
She behaved so oddly, splitting between agent and Mom, and between proud and concerned. It was confusing.
In the office the first person I spotted was Lorenzo. We shared a handshake that morphed into a half hug.
“It’s been too long.”
“Yeah, man! When I had the chance to come here, I jumped on it.”
Nearly six months had gone by since I’d done a month-long internship with Lorenzo in his lab at TOS HQ, which was in a plain-looking office park outside of Richmond, Virginia. It’d been a blast being around all the tech, not to mention working directly with him, the director of encryption, and others on the IT team. We learned a lot from each other. While my mind usually worked in very out-of-the-box ways, I learned some good logical thinking from him that I tried to mesh with my own process for working through a problem.
It was cool that he was here. He was so professional when we were on the secure channel, but he was a fun guy during off hours. He was only ten years older than me, and we had a fair bit in common, between video games and our techiness.
“Theo,” Mom interrupted our reunion, “this is Yoshi, codename Yong Chi. He’s running the operation to recover the missing agents, including your father.”
I dropped my backpack into a chair and went over to Yoshi to shake his hand. He stood as I approached. “Good to meet you.”
“The pleasure’s mine.” He spoke with a light accent.
He was a thin man and a couple of inches shorter than me with jet-black hair and a nose that looked like it’d been broken more than once. It instantly made me wonder if he was a hockey player, but more likely, he’d gotten the breaks working for TOS.
“I’ve heard a lot about your work on this matter so far, and I’m hoping we can have you join us to put a stop to this and recover our agents.”
“I’m always down for helping, and for this one, I’ve got more than a little personal investment.”
“Yes, I understand Defender is your father.”
I nodded as Mom’s hand came down on my shoulder.
“Theo, there’s a lot to talk about, and before we continue, I want you to know that your involvement is totally optional. It’s important you keep that in mind. I know your father would agree with me that you’re too young for this.” She swallowed hard. “But it’s also important that the choice is yours.”
What?
This scene was already strange, and now it was completely bizarre. I usually got my TOS assignments from Joanna, or Lorenzo passing down information from her. The details usually arrived in an email or Lorenzo and I talked. Sometimes I briefed other agents before they went on missions, if they were using my tech. No one had ever come to the house. Even Mom and Dad didn’t get assignments like this.
The doorbell rang.
“Oh, good, that must be our last person,” Yoshi said.
Mom left to get the door. I hadn’t ever seen the office this full. John was there of course. And with Yoshi and Lorenzo, plus whoever just arrived, it was a crowd.
The voice I heard talking with Mom was familiar, but I didn’t place it right away. The person who entered surprised me.
“Coach Daly?”
“Reese. Or should I say, Winger?” He smiled and gave a nod. “I’m D-Man.”
“Nice! Cool to find another hockey-named agent.”
Coach had played for Ohio as a defenseman in college, so it was great to hear he u
sed that in his name in the same way I used Winger. Coach Daly had joined the Tigers as an assistant coach at the same time I started as a freshman. He must’ve been there to watch over me in the same way John did at home.
“I had no idea,” I said.
“And you weren’t supposed to.” Coach gave the same pleased look that he did when we correctly executed a play he’d taught us.
“If we could all take a seat.” Yoshi’s commanding voice got everyone’s attention. “I’d like to get this briefing underway.”
Mom and John settled at their desks. I perched on the edge of Mom’s side of the desk. Dad’s empty chair was a big void in the room. Lorenzo and Coach took seats while Yoshi remained standing.
“Theo, as you’re aware, we’ve been unable to locate a number of agents since the system breach. In the short time since then, several executed crimes against very secure targets. The ones we’ve managed to capture before police or other security got to them, tell us they couldn’t stop what they were doing. We’ve already taken their trackers out to prevent further influence.”
Yoshi took an oversize tablet from the desk and displayed a map to everyone.
“Based on the information we have because of the work you’ve been doing with Lorenzo, we know the commands are originating from Denver. Specifically in a facility that’s near the Ice Centre. The servers are behind a firewall that we can’t reliably penetrate from the outside, so we’re going in to disable it. We believe we can do that from service tunnels we can access from the rink.” Yoshi fixed his gaze on me as he continued. “We’d like you to be part of the team. There’s an invitational high school hockey tournament happening this coming weekend. With your approval, we can set up to have you there, and you’ll work with Lorenzo to infiltrate and deactivate the rogue tracker setup. We’ll have other agents in place to take people into custody. Everyone in this room will be on the mission to support.”
Everyone looked at me expectantly.
Mom and Dad would say yes without hesitating.
I was scared. Whoever had the tracker technology had already tried to take me, and they’d hurt Eddie. This was a chance for revenge. I couldn’t think about that, though. My focus needed to be solely on the mission, and probably the hockey too since I’d be on a team looking to win.
Fieldwork was something I’d never considered. What did it even entail?
“Can I talk to Lorenzo privately?”
Mom raised an eyebrow and Yoshi looked annoyed.
“Whatever you need,” Mom said. “Do you want this room?”
“No, we’ll go to my office.”
I’d said “office” because that seemed better than saying “my room.” If I was going to be an official-agent type, I might as well upgrade myself to “office.”
I gestured toward the door and Lorenzo got up and headed for the hallway. I grabbed my pack as I left. We didn’t speak as we went upstairs. I closed the door once we were in my room… office.
“Nice. I always wondered what the rest of this room looked like.” Lorenzo looked around the room. “Sweet setup.”
“You know, I would’ve given you a three-sixty view if you’d asked.”
“Yeah, but it seemed weird to ask. It’s already strange seeing it under these circumstances.”
I tossed my pack on the floor next to the desk and sat back in my chair. I gestured toward one of the gaming chairs across the desk from me.
Lorenzo sat and I studied him for a moment. His hair was more tousled than usual, like he’d boarded a plane before he’d really had time to get ready. At least he was in his trademark superhero T-shirt and black blazer.
“Have you been in the field before?”
“Not like this. I’ve worked around the world for TOS, but usually in front of a keyboard, at a distance from where things are going down. I’ve never faced a request like this.”
“Are you…?”
I hated even asking the question. What would he think of me? Hell, why were we having this discussion? I had to do what they wanted. What if I didn’t go and they didn’t get Dad back? I’d never be able to live with that.
“Scared?” he finished for me. “Sure. There’re a lot of variables in a mission. But whether it’s backing you up or doing it myself, this mission must happen.”
He was right about that. There weren’t other options.
“Theo, I don’t know what I would’ve said ten years ago. I wasn’t even thinking about this life when I was sixteen. I knew I was good with a computer, but I had no clue what I was going to do with that. I figured I’d end up making video games.”
I smiled because I knew his passion for games. He was always introducing me to something new to play.
“This is a lot more cool than that,” he continued, “even though there can be lots of risk.”
“I should do this.”
“And I’ll have your back. Just like everyone else downstairs will.” He moved so he sat on the edge of my desk. “Don’t let me talk you into it. This is major, especially since you haven’t had field training and you’ll only be able to take in so much while we get set up.”
“You’ve had field training?” That was a surprise.
“Yeah, back when I started. And I take a refresher every six months.”
I nodded.
“I’m gonna do it anyway. I need to get my dad back. And I probably know the agent-control system better than anyone else at this point.”
“That you do.”
I stood and Lorenzo followed my lead. He gave me a very brotherly hug along with a slap on my back.
“Thanks for the chat,” I said.
“Anytime. And when we’re done, you gotta show me all this equipment. I think you might have better stuff than I do and I’m not sure I can allow that.”
“Deal.”
Once we were downstairs, I took a deep breath before we went in.
“Okay,” I said, interrupting whatever Yoshi was saying. “I’m in. What’s the plan?”
“The first thing is getting you into the tournament,” Yoshi said.
“I’m already taking care of that,” Coach said as he typed on his phone.
“We’re working on getting good schematics of the rink,” Yoshi continued, “so that we know the perfect place to get you tapped into the network. Ideally you’re going to be able to connect, find the exact location of the main system, and at the same time, shut it down.”
“You make it sound so easy,” I said.
“There’ll be more briefings on the way to Denver, and you’ll have someone with you when you try to make the takedown.”
I turned to Coach. “I need to know about this tournament too. Am I skilled enough to play in it, or is it going to be weird that I’m there?”
“No, you’ll be great,” Coach said. “The only reason we didn’t send any Tigers is because it’s typically for students who are looking to continue into high-level college hockey or straight into the NHL, but haven’t been seen. It’s a chance to show off for a number of scouts all at once. If you were on that track, we’d have submitted your name for consideration. There are a couple of wild-card slots, though, where scouts can request invites for players they want to see. We’re getting you one of those.”
I wasn’t going to ask how they were making that happen. It was probably better I didn’t know.
“Okay. But, I don’t want to mess up anything for other players who need this opportunity for college.”
He nodded dismissively and went back to his phone. My concerns about the tournament were probably not among the top mission objectives.
This was crazy. I was headed to Denver to play hockey and thwart a bunch of hackers.
“Before we go, I’ll make sure your teachers and the team know why you’re gone,” Coach said.
“I’ll talk to my professor too, so he won’t think I’ve just bailed on class for a couple of days. When do we leave anyway?”
“Tomorrow morning,” Yoshi said.
; “Tomorrow,” I said quietly. It made sense and yet I didn’t think it’d be quite this soon. “Okay.”
Mom shot me a concerned look that I didn’t respond to. Another week missing a game, which Coach would take care of, and another weekend that wasn’t going to work right for me and Eddie. There was no choice, though.
“If you’ve got time, we can start figuring out how we’re going to hack into this network,” Lorenzo said. “I’ve got some ideas and I bet you will too. The more we work out in advance, the more time we’ll have if we need to try any outside-the-box concepts that I know you’ll come up with.”
I couldn’t decide if the butterflies in my stomach were more excitement about the adventure or terror at the possibility that it could all go very wrong. The nerves could also be because I was going to have to explain to Eddie that I was suddenly leaving for the weekend to play in a tournament that wasn’t even on my radar an hour ago.
Chapter Fourteen
“LET ME get this straight,” Eddie said, voice filled with irritation. “You’re going to a tournament—in Denver—that Coach Daly just told you about a few hours ago. How’s that even possible?”
This was even worse than I’d imagined. Between all the “client” work and now this, Eddie was getting shortchanged unlike any previous time in our year together. I couldn’t blame him for being upset, but I couldn’t change the situation either.
“Were you just not telling me about this because you didn’t think you’d go, or because I didn’t matter enough to know you were suddenly thinking about playing in college?” As he talked his voice grew angrier and his brow furrowed. The part that upset me most was the hurt in his eyes. “We’ve talked about this, Theo. You didn’t want to put the time into playing in college with all the travel. Does MIT even have a team? Or have you decided that’s not where you’re going now?”
We were in the beanbags in front of Eddie’s television. After Lorenzo and I worked out our initial plans, I excused myself because I couldn’t just leave in the morning without seeing Eddie. It’d pissed Yoshi off, but Mom at least understood and made it okay for me to go. I clearly wasn’t making a good first impression on Yoshi, but Lorenzo and I would have plenty of time to get our strategy together since we weren’t going to try our hack until Friday between tournament games.
