by Bryan Cohen
Ted's attempts to bring Erica down to a simmer were having the opposite effect. She was as tense as he'd ever seen her.
"When I was a living soul, I nearly died trying to live a normal life." She pounded her fist into her other hand. "If I'd just listened to my protector, I might have died knowing the people I loved lived happy, fulfilled lives. I didn't listen."
Ted scrunched his forehead and tried to understand exactly what Erica had just said.
"You were a living soul? You were like me?" Ted pictured Erica flying through the air at top speed.
She let out a groan. "Yes. I was like you. I wouldn't listen and I got the people around me into trouble by being an idiot."
Ted didn't know why Erica was so on edge, but it was starting to damage his calm. "So, you're saying the bomb was my fault?"
Erica smacked the nearest wall, leaving a several-inch crack in the wake of her outburst. The noise from the structural assault caused more than a little attention from nearby patients, visitors and nurses.
"I'm saying there will always be human problems to worry about. You need to care about bigger things now, Ted. What's the point of protecting a few people when the whole world could go down in flames?"
Ted didn't care if people were looking at them, and they certainly were. He couldn't believe Erica was treating him like this.
"I already saved the world. The world isn't in 'peril' anymore."
"Your world is always in danger." Erica pulled the collar of Ted's shirt toward her. "If you join up with the DHS, maybe you'll save a few people from a hurricane or something, but right now we need to focus on whoever stole that book."
Ted heard his mother's calming voice in his head and ignored it. He felt the anger bubbling over. "How do I even know I can trust you?"
Ted had never seen Erica's eyebrows go so high. "Excuse me?"
Ted seethed. Erica had been the one who let Natalie walk right into a trap. She'd held back on telling him about powers that for all he knew could have thwarted the bombing. And when a solution presented itself to deal with the GHA, she was the only thing that stood in the way. As much as he wanted look at her and see his girlfriend and protector before him, all he could see was a liar with ulterior motives.
"There's always one more secret." He paced away from her. "You say you're here to protect me, but it seems like you're just putting everyone I know and love in danger."
Erica grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. "The danger was coming already. If it wasn't for me–"
"Natalie and my mom might be safe."
Erica let out a roar of anger as she pushed Ted back into the wall. "You want to blame me for what happened? Fine. But this is bigger than Natalie and your parents. It's even bigger than the two of us. We have a responsibility to every world and every person in it." Erica backed away from Ted. "Call me when you're ready to handle being the man you were meant to be."
With that, Erica stomped off down the hallway and out to the parking lot. Ted knew his mother had said not to make decisions in anger, but how could he avoid it when he felt like his body was about to explode? As he thought about Erica and the way she was talking to him, three pictures fell off the wall and crashed to the ground.
Ted turned his attention back toward the DHS agents. He didn't care about his so-called responsibility to people on worlds he'd never even seen. Ted knew he had to protect his family and find his friend.
"I need a gesture of good faith."
Agent Harding was still looking at the broken picture frames on the ground. His partner smacked him and concentrated his attention on Ted. "And then you'll join us?"
"You do what I ask, and I'll consider it much more strongly."
Agent Vott folded his arms. "Name it."
"I want to meet with him." Ted stood up straight. "I want to meet with Cobblestone."
26
Ted sounded angry on the phone when Dhiraj got a hold of him. Despite staying up way past his bedtime, Dhiraj couldn't help but get up at the crack of dawn. He wasn't sure when Jennifer would wake up, so he went out to get them some breakfast at the nearest bagel shop and called Ted along the way from his Bluetooth.
"Why the hell are you in upstate New York?" Ted sounded snippier than usual.
Dhiraj wished he could tell him, but even he didn't know why Jennifer had whisked him away in the middle of the night. He wasn't sure why she tried to make out with him, either, but he was more interested in conquering Ted's problems that particular moment.
"I'll let you know when I find out." Dhiraj tossed a few napkins into a bag of bagels and rolled the opening. "You sound like you want to punch somebody."
Ted paused like he'd just been caught with a handful of cookies. "I am perfectly calm."
"I don't think I've ever heard you perfectly calm." Dhiraj hoped his friend could survive a couple of days without him. Having superpowers could get you out of most jams, but emotional conflicts were a different story. "Why am I hearing this buzz about you meeting with Cobblestone?"
Ted grumbled. Dhiraj swore he could hear Ted put his head underneath a pillow, even over the phone.
"How do you always find these things out before me?"
Dhiraj grinned. "It's called the internet. I hear it's going to put the pencil sharpener out of business."
Ted mumbled something indecipherable.
"Look, Ted, just don't do anything stupid." Dhiraj reached the motel parking lot. "I want to be there when you do stupid things. It's more fun that way."
Ted's sigh nearly shorted out Dhiraj's Bluetooth. "No promises. You be careful, too."
Dhiraj nodded through the phone. "You've got it, buddy."
He opened the motel room door with care and saw that Jennifer was still asleep. When he'd woken up naturally before the sun rose, her arm was draped over him as if he were in his favorite dream. He'd imagined being married to his landmark crush a million times over, picturing himself expertly removing her arm every morning before heading off to his study to make them the money they deserved. He'd never imagined the same scene in a shady motel room with no idea why he was there.
When Dhiraj fished the bagels out of the bag, Jennifer began to stir. He caught himself wondering why she'd been acting so strangely. Could it still be the attacks messing with her brain? Dhiraj had almost been killed by an undead bully, but she'd been strangled half to death and learned about her best friend biting the dust. There was hardly a comparison.
"Where'd you go?" Jennifer spoke with the covers still on her face.
"There's this great place around the corner for people who've been kidnapped." Dhiraj cut his bagel in half, cream cheese oozing onto a branded napkin. "It's called Stockholm Syrup. Real fresh bagels!"
Jennifer pushed herself out of bed. She hiked up the meatloaf pajama pants that were several sizes too big for her and stood next to Dhiraj.
"You're too chipper." She took one half of the bagel and sat back on the bedspread. "This is the time of day for crazy people."
Dhiraj could feel his face betray him by reacting to the word "crazy." He thought back to the morning he brought her to school and yesterday's loud shriek in the gas station parking lot. He'd been spooked for sure, but he had no intention of pressing Jennifer on her behavior. She noticed his concern before he could return his demeanor to a neutral state.
"And these days, I'm the expert on what's crazy." She munched on the half-bagel.
Dhiraj forced a smile. "What do you mean?" He attempted to nonchalantly pick up his breakfast.
"You don't have to pretend, Dhiraj."
"Alright. You've been skipping classes. You freaked out when some nerdy stranger got your attention. Plus, you kidnapped me and took me across state lines for what seems like no–"
"I found Daly."
Dhiraj's mind snapped back to the moment in the cave when the twisted deputy pointed his gun at Erica's head. If it weren't for Natalie, he might have been dead as well.
"As in deposed murderer Deputy Daly?"
Jennifer
nodded.
"Where is he?" Dhiraj felt the fear double in his stomach.
"Nearby." Jennifer spoke through a half-full mouth. "He works the graveyard shift at a convenience store close by. He's going under a fake name. I have his work address."
Dhiraj felt his mouth gape open. He knew Sheriff Norris didn't like to let go of cases, but Jennifer wasn't the bounty hunter type. Then again, she hadn't been the girl he'd known since telekinesis, resurrection and mind control became part of their day-to-day lives.
"What are you going to do?"
"We're going to catch the man who killed my friend." Jennifer hopped off the bed and reached for another piece of bagel.
Dhiraj wanted nothing more than to protect Jennifer, but she was making it pretty hard.
"We should call your dad. And the local cops."
Jennifer stared into Dhiraj's eyes. "We need to make sure it's him. Besides, he's a former cop. He'll know when people are after him and we may never find him again."
"But what if something happens? Nobody even knows where–"
"I've been seeing him." Jennifer put the bagel down on the counter. "The man at the gas station. Friends. Even my dad once or twice. I freaked out because I thought it was Daly."
Dhiraj stood up and took Jennifer's cold hand in his. He felt an internal buzz of electricity as he did it.
Jennifer gripped his hand tightly. "I need to be the one to find him. I need to end this so I can sleep at night. So I can be me again."
Dhiraj attempted to relax his fear away. "What's your – our plan?"
Jennifer looked happier than he'd seen her the entire trip.
As they got dressed and ready for the day, Jennifer explained that Daly's shift would end in the next half-hour. They would stake out the street until he headed home. Once they identified him, then they'd call the cops and nail him. Within the next 10 minutes, Jennifer and Dhiraj had pulled up their car across from the convenience store. The middle-of-nowhere shop was as beat up as their middle-of-nowhere hotel room. Dhiraj figured it wasn't as much a town for living as it was a town for hiding. Sure enough, the man behind the counter had the same build and height as Daly, though the advertisements stuck to the windows prevented the confirmation of his identity. As the man stood behind the counter, Dhiraj tapped Jennifer on the shoulder.
"Before... all of this goes down, I need to ask you about last night."
"I told you. In the parking lot–"
"No." Dhiraj started to squirm. "I mean, you trying to kiss me."
The look on Jennifer's face didn't inspire Dhiraj with much confidence. "I'm sorry. You've always been so nice to me and I tried to take advantage of you."
Dhiraj tried to start a reply several times, but he wasn't quite sure how to process Jennifer's words. "You... I... trust me, Jen, I'd be lucky to have you take advantage of me. If I'd done nothing, it would've fulfilled about 45 of my top 50 fantasies."
Jennifer's grin helped Dhiraj to relax. "That's creepy. But also sweet."
"You don't have to make up for her being gone." Dhiraj hoped he wasn't crossing a line. "You're amazing and you don't need to compensate for Erica. It sucks that she's not who she was anymore, but the world would really lose out if you became someone you're not."
Jennifer's eyes blinked several times as some tears built up inside. Before she could respond, however, they both saw the man leave the convenience store. As he entered the daylight, it became clear that it was Daly.
"Should I call the–"
Jennifer stopped Dhiraj with her hand. "We're going to follow him home first."
When Daly pulled his car out of the parking lot, Jennifer allowed another car to pull behind the mark before she tailed him. They kept silent, as if Daly might hear them if they spoke. A few minutes had passed when Daly turned into a row of apartments that were as worn as everything else in town. Jennifer parked on the other side of the lot and watched as Daly entered his unit on the third floor.
After Ted got his powers, Dhiraj had seen his own adrenaline capability tested, but this was as fast as he could remember his heart beating. "Now we call the cops?"
"Open the glove compartment." Any sentiment Dhiraj had built up in Jennifer was gone. She sounded all business.
Dhiraj complied. On top of the insurance cards and the owner's manual sat a gun. He heard a large breath to his left.
"It's for protection."
Dhiraj considered grabbing the gun and fleeing to the nearest pay phone. Instead, he stayed in his place as Jennifer reached across him and took the weapon. Dhiraj wasn't sure what Jennifer needed more: protection against Daly or protection from herself.
27
Ted felt like he was moving into enemy territory when he passed through the front door of GHA headquarters. Even though the dark exterior of the building had given way to a bright, posh core, Ted couldn't help but continue to feel darkness all around him. The people who met within these walls wanted his head on a platter, which made it hard to enjoy the interior design. Agents Vott and Harding were on Ted's left and right, respectively, and half a dozen DHS guards walked in behind them. He'd been told that more than a hundred people would take part in meetings that discussed his family and his future. There were only about a dozen people in the building now, but all of them looked like they considered him sub-human.
It wouldn't take much. Just a flick of the wrist and you'd be on the ceiling.
Ted tried to keep his mother's words in mind to take anger out of the equation. Between the looks the GHAers were giving him and his fight the previous day with Erica, anger felt like the only emotion within his grasp. And the more he attempted to suppress it, the more the feeling seemed to grow.
Ted thought about where these men and women might have been within the mob outside of the jewelry store. He figured it was much easier to people to taunt him when a hundred people had their back. Could one of these people have been responsible for sending his mother to the hospital? The idea made the legs of an antique table in the corner of the room start to rattle.
Agent Vott put his hand on Ted's shoulder. "Not the best idea, Ted. Keeping your powers in check is a way better plan."
Ted concentrated on the table and the rattling stopped. He took a deep breath. "If it'd been your mom?"
Before Agent Vott could chime in, Agent Harding piped up. "I'd crush 'em."
While Vott's sensibility was important for a time like this, Ted would take Harding for a night on the town any day. The two agents went into a room ahead of Ted, giving him the opportunity to scope out his surroundings.
The interior of the building had sprung up so recently, Ted could still smell the fresh paint on the walls. Given how long construction work typically took, Ted imagined that whoever backed the GHA had deep pockets.
What would some rich guy or company have against me?
Before he could brainstorm further, the door ahead of him opened and Agent Harding waved him forward. Cobblestone was sitting at the head of some kind of command center table with a half-dozen armed men of his own. It reminded Ted of the underground White House bunker he'd seen in movies when the President had come under attack. He looked at the head of the GHA and pictured him as a movie villain stroking a purring, white cat.
Cobblestone opened his arms wide in Ted's direction. "We're honored to have you here today, Ted. It's amazing that a small advocacy organization like ours could command a sit-down with an important person like yourself."
While Ted couldn't smell the bullcrap, he certainly knew what it sounded like. "Mr. Cobblestone."
"Please, call me Tom." The man's boisterous tone changed to solemn in a hurry. "I'm so sorry to hear about your mother. We are working around the clock to find Ms. Dorner and put her behind bars."
Agent Vott put his hand on Ted's neck.
"Thank you." Ted considered pointing all the GHA weapons directly at Cobblestone and seeing if he'd give up Natalie's location. "Tom."
A few beats of silence passed.
"I'
m sure your time is as valuable as mine." Cobblestone leaned back in his chair. "How can I be of service?"
Ted had never tried it, but he wondered if it would be fun to try to yank out one of Cobblestone's teeth from the root. He suppressed the urge. "Do you mind if the two of us talk one-on-one for a moment?"
Tom waved his hands and the men around him stood up. "Of course, Ted. I figured you might want that. Agents Vott and Harding?"
Ted could hear Vott's low grumble behind him. The DHS agents shuffled out just as Cobblestone's men had.
"Be smart." Vott gave him one last pat on the shoulder before he and his partner exited.
Cobblestone's posture changed when the two of them were alone. He leaned forward as if he were trying to stab Ted with his words. "It's nice to be able to talk candidly with someone. Even if it is with a murderer."
The insult made Ted feel more at ease than when he'd had to play nice. "You put on a good face for the crowd, Tom."
Cobblestone coughed. "Don't address me, you abomination. You should be in jail for what you did to the Torellos."
Now Ted leaned back in his chair. He knew now it wasn't Cobblestone's choice for him to be there. "The Torellos were already dead. They were the ones possessed by… aliens. I stopped them in self-defense." Ted cleared his throat. "Trying to kill my mother and frame my friend for it is a lot worse than what I've done."
Cobblestone laughed. "Nobody was going to die. It was a warning shot. If you do what we say, nobody else will get hurt."
Ted seriously considered sending one of the room's flatscreen TVs through Cobblestone's skull. "My mother is not a bargaining chip."
Cobblestone acted like he didn't hear him. "If you and your girlfriend leave Treasure forever, we'll give you back your friend and protect your family from future… harm."
Ted stood up. "She's here, isn't she?"
Cobblestone got out of his chair and looked Ted in the eyes. "Catch her if you can."
Agent Vott opened the door to see them staring at one another. "Everything going okay in here?"
Cobblestone changed his demeanor from evil leader back to friendly used car salesman. "Thank goodness you're back, Agent Vott. Mr. Finley here was getting a little heated."
