by Q J Martin
“You’re sitting at a table with two chairs.”
“Exactly!” She emphasized the point with her finger. “When you first came here, I was sitting at a table with one chair. Ever since then, well, I’ve been hoping that eventually, at some point, you’d take the hint. So sit down already.”
She pointed at the free chair next to her. It was right next to her, too, as close as it could get, rather than across the table.
Logan grinned, quite involuntarily, like a little kid unwrapping his present and finding that mommy and daddy got him his first PH. He set his coffee and his book down on the table. He was more than extra careful with the coffee. With his luck, he would end up spilling it on both of their books and her lap, too. Thankfully, that didn’t happen, and he sat down without incident.
“I’m Elizabeth, by the way,” the woman said, holding out her hand to him. “Elizabeth Archer.”
⌬
The morning flew by as Logan and Elizabeth sat talking. Customers had come, and customers had gone. The morning rush had died down, and now the two of them found themselves nearly alone, sitting in the back of the coffee shop.
All pretenses had been washed away. Logan felt free to be himself, to talk to her the way he wanted to, to laugh when he wanted to, to smile when he wanted to, and to joke when he wanted to. In fact, Logan had never felt so comfortable talking to a woman in his life. He couldn’t believe it took him this long just to muster up the courage to head her way.
“So what do you do for a living?” he asked her.
“Oh, it’s boring,” Elizabeth chuckled, shrugging off the question.
“No it isn’t,” he insisted. “Tell me. I want to know.”
“I’m an intern at a pharmacy,” she said hesitantly.
“See?” Logan exclaimed, slapping his hand on the table. “Totally not boring!” He grabbed his coffee and took a sip. “Bleh!” he gagged. “That’s a bit colder than I remembered.”
Elizabeth burst out laughing, and Logan joined her. One of the few customers who was still in the shop gave them a look, but instead of deterring them, it only made them want to laugh harder. Elizabeth put her hands over her mouth, attempting to stifle the sound.
“So, where were we, before the whole disgusting coffee bit?” Logan finally managed to get out. “Oh, that’s right. So you work at a pharmacy! So if I needed to get some prescriptions refilled, I could just…” Logan waved his hand in the air.
“You could just pick up the phone and call Peter Phillips,” she said. “I told you, I’m an intern, not a pill pusher. But what about you? What do you do?”
“Well, you see, the thing is, I can’t tell you that?”
Elizabeth pretended to be taken aback. “Can’t tell me! The nerve! Well, that’s ok. I happen to be quite good at the whole figuring out mysterious people game.” She stroked her chin and looked Logan up and down. “Let’s see. You’re smart.”
“How would you know that?” Logan smiled.
“Well, it just so happens I’ve read that book you have with you. Your inability to provide adequate pretenses for your sojourn over to my humble corner of the shop tells me that you didn’t just pick the book off a shelf to impress me. That, and of course the fact that you’ve dog-eared pages all the way up through the page you’re currently on, and no further. So, even though you’ve been stuck reading the same page over and over every time you come to the coffee shop, you have still been reading the book in your spare time.”
“Ok, I’ll give you those observations, although I can’t really accept your conclusion.” Logan winked.
“Humble, too!” Elizabeth clapped. “Let’s see. What else?” She eyed him up and down again. “You’re in a dangerous line of work. You have quite a pronounced scar above your left eye. It actually looks like your ear has been cut apart and sown back together. Ouch! And then there are those bruises I saw you flash on the way over here.”
“What bruises?”
“Right here.” She placed her hand on his own, and ran it up his arm, pulling back his sleeve, until a large black and blue splotch was plainly visible against his otherwise clear skin. “And right here.” She put her fingers gently around his neck, and lowered them, pulling down his shirt until a bruise on his collarbone came into view.
She let her hand linger on his chest for a moment longer, and Logan could feel chills emanating from that spot, pulsing through his entire body. He began to stutter again. “I… Um… I could just be incredibly clumsy.”
She pulled her hand back and placed it back on the table. “Well, around girls, maybe.” She gave him a knowing smile. “But I don’t think that’s where all these came from. I think you’re in a line of work that constantly keeps you on your toes. It keeps you scanning the crowd for any sign of danger. In fact, I’m willing to bet you even have a plan of action in your head right now detailing exactly what you would do if someone came in here shooting.”
“Darn,” Logan said, snapping his fingers. “Ok, I’ll give you that, too.”
“You’re a security guard, at a high-crime location. Maybe on the south side, somewhere where you see a lot of action.”
“Close!” Logan said. He began to slow clap.
“Close?” Elizabeth gasped. “Is that all I got? Close?”
He nodded. “Sorry. I hate to be the bearer of bad news.”
“So what do you do for work?”
“I’m a private bodyguard, actually.”
“Ah! So you do see a lot of action, then.”
“A little bit. I’ve been doing it a couple years now, together with my best friend. We’ve been through our fair share of scrapes.”
“I see. So, of course, you would be modded, then? Strength? Perception? Intelligence?”
“No, no, and no,” Logan said, waving off all her guesses. “I’m not modded.”
“Really?” Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. “I would think that in your line of work, having at least one mod would be a big bonus.”
“It would be. Definitely. But that’s not how my father raised me. He always taught me that nothing beats hard word and acquiring skill the long way. You can try to cheat your way to the top, but if you actually get there naturally, you’ll not only have the ability, but you’ll have the practice to use it well, and the respect to use it right. You’ll know when you should use it and why. And besides, some mods are risky. But I’m sure you know all of that already, what they can turn you into.”
“That I do,” Elizabeth sighed. “But I guess that must mean that you have a very particular set of skills, then? Skills you’ve acquired over a very long career?”
Logan laughed. “You could say that,” he said, leaning back in his char and resting his arm over the side. “I’m actually just like Liam Neeson.”
“Are you, now?”
“Yeah. All the good stuff.” He started pointing around his face. “The dashing good looks, the dark hair, the cheekbones, everything except the nose, of course.”
“Everything except the nose,” Elizabeth smiled. “So, have you ever had to go across the world to rescue your daughter from kidnappers?”
“Not yet. I don’t have a daughter.”
“Do you want to have one?” she asked. She bit her lip, looked down abashedly, but then looked up again. She met his gaze, held it, and in that moment, her eyes pierced right through him, just as they had when he spoke his very first words to her.
Chapter I
The alarm clock chimed. The ringing reverberated through Logan’s entire body as he struggled to find the off button on his PH. It was Monday. The PH read 0630. Normally Mondays weren’t that special to Logan, but today was different.
Last night was the first full night that his children had gotten to spend with him at his house since the divorce. Today would be the first day that he’d get to wake them up in the morning and tuck them in at night. He had worked hard to earn this privilege, and now he got to enjoy the wonders of being a parent for an entire week.
He ro
lled out of bed and walked over to his dresser. He picked up the picture sitting on top of it. It was of him, resting on a blanket with his son Glenn and his daughter Roselyn. They had both grown so much since that day in the park. Glenn was ten years old now, and Roselyn was seven. It’s amazing how time flies.
Glenn was so excited to be able to spend the week with him. Roselyn—Well, she liked being with her mother. But that’s a feeling all girls her age have. He hoped that some day, she would like being with both of them equally.
Logan was nearly out of the room when he stopped mid-stride. He needed to take his pill. He spun around and ran up to the end table, opened the bottle, and took one small white tablet out. He slid the pill bottle into his pocket, then swallowed the pill with his glass of water from the night before.
He wanted everything to be perfect this week. He wanted it to be the greatest experience his children had ever had. There were so precious few experiences that they had shared together in the last six and a half years. He didn’t want either of them growing up estranged to him, or thinking of him as lesser, or a deadbeat, because he and their mother had gotten divorced.
So he decided to start the morning right. Home-cooked breakfast. He ran to the fridge and pulled out the packets of eggs and bacon. He slid them both into the food reconstitution trays. He pressed the start button, and the reconstitutor scanned the barcodes on each of them, hydrating and heating them individually as needed. Thirty seconds later, he had a nice, steaming tray of soft scrambled eggs, and crispy bacon.
“Toaster, make six pieces,” he commanded, and the bread dispenser dropped each one into the toaster. They came out perfectly browned, one at a time, on the plate below. Nothing compared with a good freshly cooked meal.
He ran back to the stairs and called out for his children. “Glenn! Roselyn! Come on down! Breakfast is ready!”
“Ok,” Glenn said. “Be right there.”
“Ugh. Do we have to?”
“Yes, Roselyn. You have to eat. It’s good for you.” There was no response from Roselyn’s room. Logan sighed and walked back to finish preparing breakfast. He grabbed the trays of eggs and bacon and the plate of toast and set them out on the small table sitting in the middle of the kitchen. He went and pulled three plates out of the cupboard and placed them out along with silverware and cups.
“Good morning,” Glenn said with a smile as he sat down at the table.
“Hey, Glenn! How did you sleep?”
“Good!”
“Ew…” Roselyn whined, slumping into the chair next to him. “Mommy never makes me eat scrambled eggs.”
“Oh?” Logan asked. “You don’t like them?”
“I like them fried,” she sighed.
“Well, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that,” Logan said, picking up their cups and walking to the dispenser. “I only have scrambled this morning, but I promise I’ll get fried for the rest of the week.”
“Ok.”
Roselyn reluctantly slopped a small scoop-full of eggs onto her plate. Glenn, on the other hand, dug into them greedily.
“What do you two want to drink?”
“Orange juice, no pulp!” Glenn called out, and the machine filled the cup with his request.
As soon as the next cup was in place, Roselyn made her request for chocolate milk, and then Logan asked for a latte. He brought the drinks over, handing them to each of his children in turn, and then sat down with his own drink.
There was a book in the middle of the table. After Logan portioned out his breakfast, he picked it up and began to read to himself.
“What are you doing?” Roselyn asked.
“Just reading a book. I like to read in the mornings.”
“Mommy does, too,” Glenn said between bites. “But she doesn’t anymore. She’s always too busy.”
“You know,” Logan said, pointing at the cover of his book, “this is actually the exact book that I was reading when I first met your mother.”
“Is it really?” Glenn asked, amazed by the fact.
Logan nodded, and bit off a piece of bacon. “It’s been my favorite book ever since. Every time I read it, I feel like I’m right back at that corner shop. I can actually smell the coffee in the air, just by looking at these pages.”
“Wow!” Glenn was impressed.
Roselyn was less responsive, choosing to remain silent as she wearily picked at her eggs.
⌬
A gentle alarm resonated through the kitchen. A message appeared in the air in front of Logan’s seat at the table.
Front Door Alert
“Who would be visiting this early in the morning?” Logan wondered. “Display feed.”
The notification turned into a live video feed of the front door. He saw a couple cars driving by in the background. Mr. Jameson was on the other side of the street, having his grandson carry in his groceries. But Logan’s attention didn’t linger on the those details for long, and soon it was fully occupied by the hulking man standing in the corner, waiting at the front door. He was a tall, dark-skinned individual, built like an ox, and dressed in a tailored suit that was partly obscured by his long black hair. He leaned in and pressed the doorbell again, then pulled his hair to the side, revealing an earpiece. He pressed a button on it. Logan could see his lips moving.
Logan had the ability to turn on the audio, of course, to eavesdrop on his conversation, but he knew that wouldn’t be necessary. Not with a man like Keanu. He might appear intimidating, but Logan knew he was just a big, two hundred and fifty pound teddy bear. He’d let him play football with his kids if he asked, although he’d be worried that Keanu would hurt himself while trying to keep from stepping on them.
“You two go ahead and finish your breakfast,” Logan said, rising from the kitchen table. “And then you can go outside and play. Or inside. Wherever you usually play. Or, you know, whatever.” Logan mumbled.
Glenn nodded his head in understanding. Roselyn put her head in her hand and sighed. She took her spoon, spun the remainder of her scrambled eggs round and round in circles on the plate, then sighed again.
“I promise I’ll get what you want for tomorrow,” Logan said, exiting the room. He jogged up to the front door, disabled the security system, and swung it open. “Keanu Kai! It’s been a while. What’s going on?”
Logan offered his hand to his guest, but Keanu slapped it away. He moved in for a hug instead, a greeting they had practiced many times before.
“Logan! It’s nice to see you.”
Keanu released Logan just in time for him to breath again. He held Logan at arm’s length and smiled, his large white teeth almost brighter than the rising sun beaming down on them.
“Come on in,” Logan said. He gave a courteous wave to Mr. Jameson across the street, then followed Keanu inside, gesturing for him to go to the living room. “How long has it been, man?”
“Too long,” Keanu sighed.
Logan gestured towards the recliner, and Keanu leaned into it. The seat huffed, a quiet protest against the great mass of his body.
“I think the last time I saw you,” Keanu continued, leaning back in the recliner, “must have been… the John Jones job?”
“Man, what a tongue twister that one was,” Logan laughed, sitting in the sofa opposite him. “So what brings you here now?”
“Work, of course. What else?”
“What else indeed?” Logan chuckled. “So you got another gig coming up or something like that?”
“Actually,” Keanu leaned forward, placing himself on the edge of the seat, which now threatened to give out all together, “I’ve shifted my priorities a little bit. I’ve been the head of security for Senator Johnson for her last two terms now.”
“Really? You, Keanu Kai, working full-time for Sonequa Johnson. I never thought I’d see the day where you would settle into one assignment.”
“I know,” Keanu shrugged. “Neither did I. But I gotta say, the pay is good.”
“With someone as popular as Sonequa
, I’d bet. So what’s going on now?”
“You’ve heard of InstaRegen, I’m assuming?”
Logan huffed. “The Cure Of Cures? The end of death? Who hasn’t heard of it? Don’t tell me you’ve been taken in by all that crap. You know that every gene mod has a catch. Strength mods make you hostile, intelligence mods make you uncaring, perception mods make every moment feel like an eternity. Who knows what a mod as all-encompassing as instantaneous regeneration would do to you.”
Keanu held his hands out, signaling for him to stop. “I know, I know. You’re preaching to the choir on this one. But Senator Johnson is a big advocate of gene mods.”
“So I’ve heard. Didn’t she help get the first gene mod legalized?”
“She did.”
“Man, it’s been a long time.”
“It has. And now she has her focus on the Cure. She’s been holding fundraisers for years for it, campaigning for it, she even helped push it through the FDC.”
“She must be really invested in it.”
“It’s her baby. She really believes that this will be the one. The thing that—.”
“That she’ll be remembered for?” Logan offered.
Keanu shook his head. “That our entire generation will be remembered for.”
“So what’s the gig, then?” Logan asked, his curiosity piqued.
“Well, on Friday, there’s going to be a big to-do downtown for the official release of InstaRegen, and she’s going to be the one presenting it.”
“Ok. Where do I fit in?”
“Well,” Keanu sighed. “There’s been a threat against the Senator’s life by the Brotherhood.”
“Of course. I should have figured as much. They always go in for that sort of stuff.” Logan rolled his eyes. “But why do you need me? Doesn’t she have a full security detail?”
“That’s the thing. She did. But a few of them are on sick leave. One is taking some personal time. His father just passed. And on top of all that, the venue is right in the middle of downtown Minneapolis. I kept telling her to pick a more private, easily securable location, but she insisted. It’s the same location where they released the cure for cancer twenty-seven years ago. I think she’s hoping it will become a landmark or something.”
