Blind

by Francine Pascal

  “Thinking,” said Gaia.

  “Humph.” Tatiana finished taking off her coat and put it into the closet “Thinking … I never saw you do that. Yelling, yes. Fighting—sometimes. But not thinking”

  So much for our little truce, Gaia thought. Whatever post—butt-kicking afterglow Tatianna had been basking in the other night after their fight with Gen and her drug dealer boyfriend had now faded.

  Gaia put her hands on the railing at the top of the stairs and squeezed. One thing was sure: If she could get rid of Loki and have something that looked like a normal life, that life was going to have Ed in it. It didn’t matter what was going on between Ed and Tatiana. Gaia was going to have him back. She stomped down the stairs and headed for the front door.

  “Where are you going?” asked Tatiana.

  “Out.”

  “It’s nearly midnight. You shouldn’t go out now.”

  “You were out,” said Gaia. “Natasha is still out.”

  “My mother’s at work.” Tatiana reached out, as if she were going to take Gaia’s arm, then she changed her mind and let her hands drop to her sides. “What are you doing?”

  “I’ve got work. I’ve got very important work to do.” Gaia stepped outside and slammed the door behind her.

  GAIA

  HOW many times have I wished for it? A normal life. Sounds like a pretty sucky wish, doesn’t it? I mean, why not wish for a million dollars? But what I really want is time with my father, a chance to be with Ed without worrying about getting him killed, a chance to breathe.

  I’ve always had this problem trying to understand why my father stayed away from me. Now I know. Ed.

  I don’t mean my father stays away from me because of Ed. No, but the thing with Ed and me is a great example. The reason I stay away from Ed is because I’m afraid to let the slime-balls who are watching me know that I care about him. I’ve even let Ed think I didn’t like him. Let him hate me, maybe. But only because I have to. Only to keep him safe.

  And that’s the way it is for my dad. He stays away from me because that’s what he thinks it will take to keep me away from Loki. I think he’s wrong. If he would only come to me, we’d be stronger. We could plan together. Work together.

  I don’t know. Maybe Ed thinks the same thing about me.

  It doesn’t matter now. The only thing that’s important is to end all this. Stop Loki. Stop all the killing. Rescue not just my dreams, but also my father’s. He can be with Natasha—I wouldn’t mind first finding out what the loaded gun is for, but he can be with her. He can be with me. Maybe we’ll all get a nice little house and a golden retriever and a white picket fence.

  Okay, so I don’t even want that stuff. But we can get what we do want. Act the way we want with the people we want without worrying about psycho gunmen and cloned killers.

  If my father marries Natasha, this new life will mean having Tatiana for a sister, and I can live with that. I think.

  But if sis thinks she’s going to get Ed without a fight, she’s got a big surprise coming.

  Sleepless

  GEORGE STRUGGLED TO TIE THE BELT on his robe as he made his way down the stairs. The pounding at the door came again.

  “Hold on,” he said. “I—m coming.”

  He removed the first chain on the door, then stopped to look through the peephole. What he saw made him scramble to open the other locks. He flung open the door and stared out on the small porch. “Gaia,” he said. “My God. What are you doing here?”

  Gaia Moore smiled at him from a face that was nearly hidden behind a tangle of thick blond hair. Her blue eyes were so bright, they seemed to glow. “I had to talk to you. I wanted to see if you had worked out how we could trap Loki.”

  George looked around quickly, then he took Gaia’s arm and pulled her into the brownstone. “You shouldn’t have come here. You have to get out of sight.”

  As soon as Gaia was through the door, George slammed it shut and looked again through the peephole. The early morning street appeared empty, but George wasn’t fooled. They were out there somewhere. Watching. He turned his attention back to Gaia.

  The girl was rarely what George would have considered well-groomed, but usually she was at least passable. Now she looked as though she had been sleeping under the platform at Grand Central. Then he had another thought. “Have you slept at all?”

  Gaia shook her head. She shrugged back the curtain of blond waves. “I was busy working on some ideas”

  She looked thinner than she had when she’d lived in the brownstone. The fine angles and high cheekbones of her face seemed more exposed. She seemed more vulnerable. Fragile. George knew well enough that much of that appearance was an illusion. This girl possessed strength and abilities that were beyond those of most full-grown men. Still, it was obvious that Gaia needed rest.

  “Look,” he said. “Your old bedroom is still just as you left it. Why don’t you go upstairs and sleep for a few hours? Then we can talk.”

  Gaia shook her head. “We have to catch Loki.”

  “Of course” said George. “And we will.” He took his hand away from her arm and gave what he hoped was a comforting smile. “Actually, maybe it’s a good thing you came. I have more information, and I think it would be a good idea if you stayed here from now on.”

  “Can’t” Gaia paced around in a restless circle. “Look, I just came over to … to … I don’t know. But things are different.” She took a deep breath. “We have to stop Loki now so my dad can get together with Natasha.”

  “Natasha?”

  Gaia nodded, still walking around and around the living room. “I know you don’t like her, but I found out that my father and Natasha are in love. My dad can still have a life. I can still have a life. We just have to stop Loki so they can get together.”

  George leaned against the back of a padded armchair. Suddenly he felt very old and very tired. “Gaia. That’s not going to happen.”

  “Why not?” she demanded.

  “It’s much more complicated than that.”

  Gaia stopped and turned to him. There was a painful mixture of hope and exhaustion on her face. How long has it been since she really rested? George wondered. Not just slept, but rested. Gaia was only seventeen, but there was a century of exhaustion on her young face. “Gaia, I have information that links Natasha to Loki.”

  “That’s what you said before, but it can’t be right because—”

  “It is. I was contacted this evening. Natasha and Loki were seen together last night. They may still be together.”

  “That’s a lie,” she wailed.

  “I’m afraid it’s not,” George said with a sigh. Natasha is probably with Loki right now, plotting against your father. Natasha has betrayed him.”

  Gaia stood in front of him. Her breath came so hard that her shoulders heaved. “No.”

  “Yes, I have the conclusive—”

  Before George could finish his sentence, Gaia spun and headed for the door. George climbed to his feet and hurried after her.

  “Gaia! Stay here! If you go back to that house, you’ll only be giving them a chance to use you against your father!” There was no reply, and when George made it to the front door, there was no one in the street.

  Gaia was gone.

  her father’s betrayer

  She didn’t like guns, but she had to admit that the weapon felt comforting.

  Morning Person

  IT WAS STILL AWFULLY EARLY FOR A Saturday, but the park was already coming alive. Kids were moving up and down the slides, their heavy coats making them look like little polar bears playing at the zoo. Vendors were setting up the hot dog carts. Steam rose from the metal pans and frosted bottles of ketchup and sliced pickles. Across the sidewalk the chess players were already starting to assemble. Ed had to give them credit. As far as he was concerned, this was prime sleeping time.

  However, Tatiana didn’t seem to work on his schedule. She had been on the phone before seven, insisting that they go out an
d see the park Ed had talked about. Ed glanced over at her as he made his way along the sidewalk toward the arch at the center of the park. It didn’t matter how pretty she was: if Tatiana turned out to be a morning person, he might have to kill her.

  “I think maybe I like this place better than Central Park,” said Tatiana. She stopped, flipped open her sketchbook, and made a few strokes on the paper. “It’s not so large, but it’s prettier.”

  “And Washington Square Park is eighty percent less likely to get you killed,” Ed replied.

  Tatiana looked at him with a puzzled expression for a moment, then laughed. They walked on, passing under the arch and on toward the tables where the chess players passed the time. Two middle-aged men were in the middle of a game. Ed didn’t have to watch them long to see that neither of them was really much of a player. Gaia could have taken either one out in five minutes.

  A couple of the regulars, including the Pakistani cabdriver that Gaia used to play, were set up at tables by themselves. These practiced pros craned their necks, looking for anyone who might be willing to play a friendly game. Say for twenty dollars. Fifty, maybe, but only if you insisted.

  “Who is that?” Tatiana asked.

  Ed followed her pointing hand. Down at the end of the row of tables a very old man limped to his place. The gray-haired man carefully dusted the bench with a handkerchief before slowly sitting. Then he pulled out a red plastic figurine and perched it on the side of the table before setting down a worn chessboard and getting out the pieces.

  “That’s Zolov,” said Ed. “He’s a little off, but he plays good chess.”

  “Off?”

  “Crazy.” Ed did the finger-at-the-side-of-the-head twirl and wondered if it meant the same thing in Russian.

  “Oh,” said Tatiana. “But he has a very interesting face.”

  She sat down at a bench across the walk from the chess tables and began to sketch on her pad. Ed moved around to stand behind her. He watched in fascination as her slim, elegant fingers moved rapidly over the paper. There was a soft, constant scratch of the pencil. Tatiana’s head was tilted a bit to the left, her mouth slightly open as she concentrated on her work, the tip of her pink tongue pressed against her teeth. She glanced up from time to time and watched as the old Ukrainian finished off his first opponent of the day.

  As her pencil moved, Ed saw Zolov and the park around him gradually come to life on the page. Tatiana captured the trees in the background, the couples strolling in the distance, and even the tense concentration on Zolov’s face as his wrinkled, rawboned hand reached out to advance a pawn. Every movement of Tatiana’s pencil hand seemed to add more texture, more depth, more emotion to the simple black-and-white scene.

  Finally she stopped, took one last look at the old chess player, then looked over her shoulder at Ed. “What do you think?” she asked.

  Ed shook his head in wonder. “I think it’s a classic,” he said.

  “Better than the skateboard?”

  Ed rolled his eyes. “Very close.”

  Tatiana smiled at him. She grabbed the edge of the paper and pulled it out of the pad. Then she stood and strolled down the sidewalk toward Zolov. Ed followed her, but not too closely. He saw Tatiana sit down at the bench and heard her say something in Russian.

  The old man’s eyes brightened. He replied to Tatiana with enthusiasm. His hands went out in sweeping gestures that took in the whole park, then in smaller moves about the battered chess set. Tatiana held out the sketch to Zolov. He took the paper and studied it for several seconds, his thick gray eyebrows drawn together. Then he suddenly leaned back in his seat and thrust the paper back to Tatiana.

  For a moment Ed thought that the old man was upset, but as Tatiana walked away, he flashed a gap-toothed smile. “You come back soon,” he called. “We play a game together!”

  “I will,” said Tatiana. She gave the man a little wave, then walked over to join Ed. “He liked my picture.”

  “Of course he did,” said Ed. “After all, we’re talking masterpiece. What did you say to him?”

  Tatiana shrugged her thin shoulders. “That he was a good player. That he would do well playing the men in Gorky Park.” She shrugged again. “I said some other things, but they weren’t important.”

  Ed glanced at Zolov. The old man was still smiling. “They may not have been important to you, but they meant something to him. I think you’re his new best friend. I’ve seen that guy in the park for years, and I’ve never seen him look this happy.”

  Tatiana bobbed her head, and a flush came over her cheeks. It took Ed a moment to realize she was blushing. “Come on,” she said. “Don’t we have more sights to see?”

  Ed nodded, but he wasn’t thinking about sights. He was thinking that Tatiana was perfect. She was funny and kind, and she liked Ed. He was thinking that even if he did still love Gaia Moore, nothing was ever going to come of that love. It was time to move on. It was time to take steps toward having that life A.G. he’d been thinking about. He reached up with one arm and pulled Tatiana up toward him. He pulled her face close to his with more force than he had intended until their lips were pressed together. Then he was kissing Tatiana, and it was all good.

  Bat Gaia

  GAIA STUMBLED THROUGH THE DOOR of the apartment. She stood at the bottom of the stairs, swaying on her feet. It had been nearly thirty-six hours since she had slept. Pure emotion had kept her on her feet, but emotion was also draining. She felt hollow. Used up. Like a paper cup left along the roadway. But she didn’t dare sleep. Not when she knew that they were watching her every minute. Not when she was right in the home of her father’s betrayer.

  Before she rested, she had to stop Loki.

  If Natasha was a spy, that only made the job more important. More vital. Her father could be lured to his death at any moment. He might already be dead. No. She couldn’t think that way.

  Gaia turned toward the stairs and plodded upward. Find Loki. Find him soon. End it. Those thoughts had been running through her head for hours as the sky brightened between the big buildings and the nighttime turned into brilliant day. But hadn’t she already been consumed by these thoughts for months?

  She could pretend to have a normal life. That was a lie. She could pretend to be Bat-Gaia, beating up muggers and protecting the innocent. But that was a lie, too. She could slave over breaking some random code. Lie. She could be cruel to Ed or love him. It was all a lie.

  The truth was that she had been running away. Gaia had hurried out to face a hundred fights, but she had been running away from the only fight that counted. She had been avoiding facing Loki and ending this once and for all.

  She might be fearless, but at that moment she considered herself a coward.

  Step one: Face Loki.

  No, that wasn’t right. To face him, she had to find him. Her uncle might reply to her e-mail and set up a meeting, but he might not. Even if he did, it might take days. Gaia couldn’t wait. She needed to force things to happen. Now.

  Okay, that was easy. If she couldn’t find Loki, she could certainly find his spy. His assistant. The heartless bitch whom he had sent to catch her father. She could get Natasha. Then she would force Natasha to take her to Loki.

  Gaia walked toward Natasha’s room, blinking away sleep at each step. The bed was still neat. No one had slept here.

  She probably spent the night with Loki. She must be sleeping with him. Convincing my father that she loves him, then sleeping with Loki. The thought should have made her furious, but she was too tired for fury She needed a plan. She needed a way to capture Natasha and make her reveal everything she knew about Loki.

  Gaia crossed the room and bent down to open the bottom drawer of the dresser. The gun was still there. She took it out, weighing the solid feel of it in her hand. She didn’t like guns, but she had to admit that the weapon felt comforting. When Natasha saw the black hole of the barrel pointed her way, she would talk. But Gaia didn’t intend to shoot Natasha. That she would save for Loki
.

  As she started to stand, Gaia caught a glimpse of the nightstand. The stand where the letters were hidden. All at once tears were streaming down her cheeks again. This time her throat didn’t just get tight. Gaia exploded.

  “Idiot!” she shouted at herself. “Did you think it could have a happy ending? Did you think someone could ever love you?” She tossed back her head and let the pain carry her past words, until her throat was raw with her sobbing and the tears dripped from the point of her chin.

  It had only been a dream. A dream that was gone as quickly as it came. Gaia and her father and Natasha and Tatiana. All together like a family. It was only a dream. A stupid dream. Nothing worth crying over.

  Only she couldn’t stop.

  Until she heard a sound coming from the stairway.

  Gaia swallowed her last sob and stood statue still. In the sudden silence her ears rang and her heart beat in her throat.

  A footstep on the stairs. Another.

  She raised the gun. Two-hand stance. One foot pushed slightly back. Well balanced. Just as her father had taught her.

  Another step.

  Gaia aimed the gun at the level of the doorknob. Waist-level for Natasha. That was another of her father’s instructions. Always keep a gun aimed at the center of the body. Don’t go for anything fancy like a head shot; just make sure you connect with the target. If Natasha rushed her, Gaia could drop the gun and fight. If Natasha was carrying a weapon, Gaia could shoot. She was ready.

  The footsteps reached the top of the stairs and started down the short hallway. Gaia waited.

  A tall figure stepped into the doorway. At first Gaia was confused. She saw only a trench coat and legs. She raised her eyes. “Dad?” she said softly. The man took one step into the room, and Gaia instantly knew the truth. She raised the gun to point at his chest. “What a coincidence. I was just thinking about you.”