by Teya Tapler
“Wo-o-ow,” filled the hall as a group of children from the middle school made their way in. It must have been their first visit to the Botanical Garden. From between the branches Andy and Zander could see the kids looking up to see the top of the tallest trees, then point their fingers at the holo-reality animals.
“This kind of trees were very popular in this region in the 21st century,” the guide said, her voice carrying nicely and making the kids keep quiet at the same time. ”The wild animals you see here lived in the forests, parks and reservations and from time to time visited the people’s back yards.”
“Wo-o-ow,” the students reacted.
“There!” Andy pointed to the back of the group. A tall man with brown, thin striped suit and matching shirt and vest carried a heavy backpack on his left shoulder. Striding proudly and carefully, he held himself like someone with a reasonably high status. From afar he could have passed for a superintendent or a teacher but his heavily gelled hair and ill-hidden disgust from the students around him told a different story.
“What’s your plan?” Zander whispered back.
“Keep the kids safe.” Andy disappeared among the foliage.
Zander stood at his place watching the group from afar. The students and the guide moved slowly down the path towards the exit to the next hall while the man in the brown suit stopped in the middle of the path and stared toward the yellow pine trees. The distinct hum of someone transcasting in the vicinity came to Zander’s ears and he dropped on the ground once more to avoid being seen. Staying low he peeked through the bushes and saw five black hooded men emerging from the blue haze. They seem to be coming from all directions. After briefly surveying the hall they gathered around the man in the brown suit.
That looked like the same group of men with black hoods the Anaconda team met in Cambridge. If only Zander hadn’t sneaked out. If only he had told Emil or Peter, they could have provided the much needed additional support and surveillance.
Screams and shrieks filled the area. Frightened, the children cried hysterically. Scarier than a holo-reality grizzly bear image the black-hooded men were surrounding them from everywhere.
Zander quickly tossed the what-if thoughts and crawled closer to the path.
“Be quiet everyone!” a male voice raised above the chaos as the children quieted down. “We are going to leave as soon as we get what we came for. Andy give us the locket and no one will die!”
There was no time to think whether the pearl was really close by. There was no time to think how his father knew that the pearl would be there, whether he had been guided by the medallion or Field had given him the coordinates. Something had to be done. Fast. There were too many people to protect and too many enemies to watch for and Zander and his father were on their own.
Zander crept between the shrubs and came behind the first row of bushes next to the path. From his new location he could still see the children cuddled closer to the museum guide in the middle of the path, all shivering, eyes darting around, and the black hoods several steps away.
“Excuse me,” the guide said timidly and it made the man in the brown suit turn abruptly toward her. That startled her but she kept squeezing the hand of the little girl with huge ribbon on her head. “Could you please let the kids go?” the guide said with a trembling voice.
“Why would I do that?” the man in the brown suit asked.
“You will still have me as a hostage,” the guide continued. Zander caught himself focused on her. Her soft voice and dark long hair pulled up in a ponytail. She was about five foot six, with the green T-shirt and khaki shorts uniform of the Botanical Garden personnel. She looked fragile, yet full of hidden strength. She was so much like … Evan.
Zander closed his eyes for a moment and the image of Evan in the green T-shirt with the smiley face showed up. He remembered how beautiful she was when he saw her for the first time. The look in her eyes, the smell of her hair, the soft sound of her voice…
“There you go kids,” the voice of the man in the brown suit Zander made him snap out of his day dreaming. The students were leaving into the next hall as two black-hooded men held the heavy doors open for them. Somehow the guide had won that part of the negotiations.
With the change in the background taking place, Zander looked around. From his hiding place he spotted his father on the other side of the path. Their eyes met and Andy gestured him his plan before once again disappearing between the bushes.
“Andy, come out and bring me the locket,” the man in the brown suit said out loud. “The pearl in my backpack is telling me that the reader maker medallion’s close by.”
According to the plan, Zander stood hidden in the bushes, head down, and waiting for his father’s signal for 30 seconds. Laying low in the shadows he stood quiet trying not to get noticed. His eyes closed and his ears listening intensely to every little noise. That time he was fully focused on his surroundings. He heard the buzz of the holo-reality animal images showing up among the trees and then disappearing between the undergrowth. He distinguished the footsteps of what he thought were the black hoods walking up and down the path among the exhibit, guarding the man in the brown suit. Zander tracked the time by slowly counting in his head, “Eleven Mississippi, twelve Mississippi”
Someone kicked his legs and rudely turned him on his back.
Zander opened his eyes and saw a laser gun pointed at his head and a black hooded man looking down at him. The plan was no more.
“Boss, there is someone here,” the black hooded man shouted towards the man in the brown suit.
“Take the locket and kill him!” was the short response.
The black hooded man knelt to open Zander’s jacket but someone hit him on the head and he fell on the ground among the yellow pine needles and dry branches.
“Come on, this way!” Andy pulled Zander away into the shadows. From their new location they surveyed the area once more. The black hoods and the man in the brown suit were still holding the tour guide as a hostage.
“You take care of the hoods and I get the pearl.” Andy whispered, “You are the better shot.”
Zander nodded and took position. He propped one arm on the horizontal branch in front of him and steadied his other hand that was holding the transcaster gun. He aimed at the closest black hood and fired. The familiar hum sounded as the man was engulfed with the blue haze and disappeared. Zander aimed at another man and pressed the trigger. That black hood was gone too. There were three more out there plus the man in the brown suit. It was then that Zander saw the black hooded man who was closer to the tour guide twist her hand behind her back. The sudden pain changed her face and she let out a quiet cry. The man pushed her forward and pulled her back, using her as a human shield. The girl was frightened, her eyes filling up with tears, her pony tail falling apart and her hair spreading freely around her shoulders. Suddenly she reminded him of Evan.
The scenery suddenly changed and in front of him, Zander saw Evan in the Cambridge apartment. Evan was in trouble and he had to save her. The events from the night of their encounter with the black hoods came to live.
Forgetting that was not Evan. Forgetting that they were not alone, that there were other black hoods in the hall, Zander got up and left his hiding place. He approached the frightened tour guide and the man holding her hostage.
What followed happened really fast and it was hard to determine the exact sequence.
As Zander walked towards the tour guide and her captor he saw his father jump on the man with the brown suit and grab his backpack. The man turned abruptly and shot at the place his father was a second ago then ducked and disappeared among the trees. Seeing all that, the black hood let go of the tour guide for a moment and she rushed into the forest from where Zander had emerged, leaving him with her ex-captor and the other two black hoods all pointing their laser guns at him.
***
“He is alive.” Zander heard his father’s voice and opened his eyes. Andy and the tour guide we
re kneeling above him on the path between the trees. They were still in the moderate and continental climate zones exhibit in the Botanical Gardens of the historical museum, the holo-realistic animals moving and flickering around them, the yellow pine needles and green broad leaves hiding them from the lights on the high ceiling.
“I’m okay.” Zander started to stand up and looked around. He hurt all-over but nothing felt broken.
”They’re gone.” Andy answered the unasked question and patted the backpack next to him.
Zander stretched a hand toward his father and pulled the leather strap hanging from his neck. It slid quickly from under the collar and hung in Zander’s hand. The golden locket that was previously hanging on it was gone.
Andy did not explain that he had to choose between the reader maker locket and Zander’s life. It all happened as predicted by Zoraida. Andy had willingly let the locket go.
Then time comes, your choice is clear, take only what is dear.
For this to reach the bravest girl, it must be “left behind” at first.
Chapter 14
Zander walked toward the team base, trying to find a plausible explanation for his early morning absence when they were supposed to identify the best time to go back and pull Evan from her world. He couldn’t tell Emil, Peter or Mary that he and his father had just lost the reader maker locket. Andy had made him promise to keep the events from the Earth’s Historical Museum Botanical Gardens a secret from the rest of the Anaconda team. Zander would have to lie to Emil, Peter and Mary. To help his father who had just saved his live, again, he had to lie to the people that had saved his live so many times.
Zander stopped and waited at the bus stop. Hands in his pockets, focused on his thoughts he casually kicked the bus stop sign and the marker rattled from the impact. Because of his irregular work hours his landlord had thrown him out of the apartment a little bit before the pearl retrieval mission and the team base had become his home ever since. Caught in the frequent travels and mission schedule he had no time to find a place he could call his own. Everyone knew that the only excuse he could have for leaving the team base, besides for going on a mission, to see Andy or go to the gym, would be to buy something. He couldn’t tell them that he was with Andy, as it would bring questions he might not be able to answer properly. He couldn’t tell them he went to the gym; he had the wrong clothes on and his gym bag was still in the apartment hallway. He would have to think of something to buy.
The question was what he could bring back without making them doubt him. As usual, Mary would have brought in breakfast and coffee, Peter would have gotten the sodas and something for lunch. Emil never brought any food, but he took care of the assignment supplies. Zander signed and looked around; there was nothing left for him.
“This is a once in a lifetime chance! By a ticket for the PowerLottery,” the voice from one of the commercials running on the flexi-three above his head caught Zander’s attention. “Unheard of jackpot!”
***
When Zander entered the team base apartment Peter and Emil were deep into the analysis. Even though they’ve briefly met Evan over a year ago, officially they haven’t worked on that case for three years. Spending more than a month on each mission and sometimes having more than one mission per week has made those three years in their multi-dimensional trade a much longer period than the same three years in the life of an accountant for example. They had to review all the data, even the one they’ve already reviewed and discussed the previous time.
“Oh, you’re finally here.” Emil greeted Zander as he entered the team base.
Everyone was gathered in the living room area around the holo-threens.
“Hi, where have you been? The coffee’s getting cold,” Mary pushed a mug in Zander’s hands.
Peter was chewing his favorite gummy bears while tapping on the virtual keyboards. The screens in front of him showed his simultaneous search activities in several data streams.
“Yeah,” Zander pulled the lottery ticket out of his pocket and threw it on the low table among the threens, keyboards, switches and remotes.
“We are getting rich!” Mary noted. “Good idea, Zander that place needs more TLC than we could afford now.”
“How did you pick the numbers?” Peter stopped his work and faced Zander. “I have this program,” he started looking in his personal folders for the right application.
“Wait, wait, wait, everyone,” Emil stood up and interfered, “you are not seriously changing the topic of the meeting, are you? Please don’t think that just because he’s more often closer to the reader maker than any of us, he has some special powers to predict the numbers that would win the next PowerLottery jackpot. The medallion has to be outside of its protective case and be worn around your neck for some time for any subconscious changes to take place.”
That was his cue; Zander abruptly left the coffee mug on the low table and hid in his room. His friends would think that he had overreacted but the important part was that his father’s secret was safe.
“See what you did?” Mary said.
“He’ll be okay,” Emil waved his hand,” now Peter, tell me what have you found so far.”
“She doesn’t have a profile on any of the social networks and the information in the email accounts history from that time is unreliable. The thumb reader and retina scanners haven’t been integrated in the account creation process yet and everyone could use the names and addresses they wanted.” Peter pointed to an email account belonging to Mr. Jkl;’ 1234%^. He shook his head and hunched over the virtual keyboard not happy with the findings in those streams.
“Is there anything in the news?” Emil asked.
“The professor appears frequently in the bulletins till November 1, 2007. That’s the last article about him.” Peter said.
“It’s not an obituary, is it?” Emil asked.
Peter put the last gummy bear in his mouth and threw the empty package in direction of the waste bin. He missed and the colorful, wrinkled, cellophane packaging landed two feet to the left right in front of Mary. She angrily left the room as Peter shrugged in response and continued talking with Emil, “It’s his announcement that he’ll stop his attempts to assemble the hypothetical device and the pearls will become part of the permanent exhibition in the museum because according to the carbon dating they were created at times when people on Earth didn't have the technology expected for such an achievement.”
“Another dead end,” Emil said then remembering about the data crystals he got from the Chancellor he turned to Peter and said, “Did you check the pre-mission data crystals?”
“That’s how I started because of the fire in the 21st century data center. They haven’t fully recovered yet.” Peter said.
The two of them stood in silence, each in his thoughts, trying to find a fresh data source they haven’t researched yet.
“Let's ask the expert then. Being in the same room as the medallion might have increased not only his lottery number guessing abilities.” Emil said then shouted towards the door of Zander’s room, “Zander, where do you think we can find records about Evangeline Shtuttgart?”
“Leave him alone, Emil. Everyone can screw up. You’ve done silly things too, haven’t you?” Peter pulled Emil back to the monitor. “Let's check the school and town records next.”
***
It was Thursday, November 1, 2007, three o'clock in the afternoon. Allie got of the school bus, picked up the mail and headed home browsing the mail as she trotted down the wide stone path. She came to a catalog with formal dresses when she bumped into something. It was a black duffle bag. Next to it, on the front porch stairs she saw a handsome looking blue eyed man, all dressed in black, with a bandana across his forehead. His face looked somewhat familiar to her. Not sure what to do she stopped and retreated a few steps.
“Don't be afraid Allie,” the man spoke slowly, “I’m Zander. D’you remember me? I was here with my friends in 2003. We worked with your father on the pe
arls.”
His patented unruly hair and blue eyes gave him away. Allie started to wonder what could have Evan possibly found in him. Besides that in 2003, being a 12 years old, Allie considered Zander to be much taller than today, he was still scruffy looking. Allie tried to smile.
“My father won't be in for another hour. You may come in, it's getting cold this time of the year,” she walked through the front door and held it with one hand. He was still sitting at the porch staring at the minivan on the driveway.
“Yes, that’s one of the cars you left behind. My mother drove it a lot before she died. She used to say that she liked ‘the way that big vehicle gracefully maneuvered around the parking lot’.”
Zander picked up his duffle bag and entered the house. Nothing had changed since the day they left four years ago, none of the furniture had been moved around, yet so much had happened and changed at the same time. He adjusted the black bandana around his head and followed Allie into the living room. On their way they passed by the open kitchen door and Zander glimpsed the kitchen island and the big fridge.
“Would you like some coffee?” Allie asked trying to be a good hostess like her mother. “We also have ice cream and cookies.”
“Is it apples and caramel?” Zander asked, still remembering the taste in his mouth as if he was there the day before.
“It was my sister's favorite. We still keep it in the house.” He heard Allie’s voice from the kitchen and the usage of the past tense when Allie talked about Evan made him feel uncomfortable.
“Where’s she now?” He asked hoping that was an innocent and kind of neutral question after the usage of the past tense. He hoped to hear that Evan had moved to live in another state or another country. The possibility of Evan being married and having kids also entered his mind.
“She died last year.” Allie handed him the ice cream. A small silver spoon with an apple blossom next to an apple at its end stick out from the bowl.
