Enlisted

by Nathan Pedde

“A tutor?” Elsie asked.

  “Yeh,” Des complained with his head resting in his hands. “I called the place, and some stuck-up snob answered, and I have someone coming in about ten minutes. I plan on getting a half-hour tutoring session with them before the construction workers get here.”

  “Smart. If you did that level of thinking about your studies, maybe your grades wouldn’t have slipped.”

  “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or if it’s steeped in sarcasm,” Des grumbled.

  “I’m serious.”

  “Right.”

  “I must get going. See you on the Net.”

  Elsie walked out of the diner. Des stared down at his homework on the tablet. He answered only six of the required seventeen questions. He rubbed his eyes. A few moments later, Susan walked up to Des’s table.

  “Was that Elsie I saw leaving?” Susan asked.

  “Hi, Susan,” Des said.

  “Is this where you’ve been hiding instead of having dinner with me?”

  “Yes. Studying at home wasn’t working, so I’m trying something new,” Des replied.

  “Right…” Susan said, sliding into the booth.

  “I’m actually waiting for the nerdy tutor my annoying uncle sent for me.”

  Susan wriggled herself straight with a sarcastic grin on her face. “Interesting because I’m that nerdy tutor.”

  “You’re tutoring me? I didn’t know you worked as a tutor?” Des asked.

  “I have three jobs as well as my college schooling. So, I know a thing or two about pressure.”

  Des looked down at the math question and started to answer it. Susan’s phone beeped, and she looked down at it.

  “Des, you there?” Cryslis asked over the Neuronet.

  He looked around outside the windows of the diner. He looked to the rooftop where Cryslis was watching over the operation and shook his head.

  “Roger that,” Cryslis called. “Use texts when you can. I expect the curtains will raise in thirty minutes.”

  “Des, are you listening?” Susan asked.

  “Sorry,” Des replied. “I was lost in thought.”

  “I see. I said you’re answering these questions wrong.”

  “You must compile the like numbers in both quadrants first. Then add them together. I thought you were a wiz at these types of problems. It’s simple Quadro-Trigonometric Equations.”

  Des looked at the problem on the table. She was correct. He was doing it wrong. But it was the problem for question seven. Des looked back at question six. It seemed better.

  “What about questions one through six? Did I mess up the other questions?”

  Susan looked at the questions on the tablet.

  “Heads up,” Cryslis called. “The chickens are headed to the roost.”

  “Roost? That’s early?” Des replied out loud.

  “Roost? Early?” Susan questioned.

  “Sorry. Lost in thought again. How did I do on those questions?”

  “They look pretty good. You need to slow down at answering the questions and show more of your work. You’ll have to do that on the tests for the Military Academy.”

  The diner’s door opened. In walked the two construction workers, sitting down at a table that was already occupied by a single gentleman.

  Des immediately started to take in the details about the guy.

  Dark hair, green eyes, scar on his right cheek. He was wearing an expensive track suite.

  “Des,” Susan said. “Jupiter to Des.”

  Des refocused his attention back to Susan. “Sorry. I was lost in thought again.”

  “No wonder you aren’t doing well in class. You can’t keep focused on anything for any length of time.”

  “I’m sorry,” Des said.

  “Tomorrow we’re going to study at my house. Somewhere you can stay focused on the task at hand.”

  “I like it here,” Des replied.

  “And I don’t care,” Susan said. “Tomorrow, same time, my house. Or your uncle will hear of this.”

  Susan got up off out of the booth and stormed out of the diner.

  The construction workers, the Mysterious Man and the rest of the diner looked over at Des and Susan. The other man eyed Des up carefully. His hand went to his ear. He got up and walked out of the diner. He turned the same way Susan went.

  “I’m blown,” Des said, looking down at his work.

  “I can see that,” Cryslis said. “Elsie, are you on him?”

  “I am,” Elsie replied. “He’s following Susan.”

  Des started to pack up his tablets. He placed a couple credits onto the table.

  “Go home Des,” Cryslis said, “We’ll handle this from here.”

  Des tapped his ear once and shut off the device. He didn’t want to hear from any of them again that night. This was another thing he failed at.

  Chapter Twenty

  Des exited the diner to discover night had fallen in the station. Some yahoo in the station spindle decided the station needed some watering, and a wash, so the sky opened, and rain poured down to the pavement.

  He walked down the street through the rain with his head hunched over. Des sauntered to one of his nearby drop points, changing into his Ryder disguise. He also changed his clothes, hoping he wouldn’t be noticed by his target.

  In the distance, up ahead was the man. Des caught up to Elsie and the Mysterious Man. Des watched the guy lose Elsie by cutting down an alley. Elsie looked around for him and stamped her foot. The man made it look easy, continuing to follow Susan down the road.

  Des knew Susan was headed to her house. She wasn't taking the most direct pathway, but the easiest. Susan lived in a small apartment fifteen blocks from the diner.

  Up ahead, his target reached inside his coat, pulling out a large metallic tube-like object. Des scowled at the different style pin shooter.

  Des pulled out his pin shooter. He switched his pins from electric shock to pins that would discharge a knock-out liquid, which worked instantaneous.

  The Mysterious Man aimed his pin shooter at Susan. The man waited on his aim for the perfect shot. Des aimed the pin shooter at the guy. He had one chance to get this right before the man took out Susan.

  Des fired a pin. The shooter hummed and buzzed. He wasn’t sure where his pin landed. The man didn’t make any reaction to the shot. Before Des could take another shot, the man swiveled toward Des, firing his off at Des. The man’s move was smooth and flawless with no time left to aim. The pin struck Des’s shoulder and spun him around.

  An electric shock raced down his arm, his fingers going numb. He let go of his pin shooter, which flew off into the alley. Des collapsed against a nearby wall, sliding down to sit on the damp ground.

  Water dribbled down his face and arms as was still being zapped by the electric shock. Des glanced around the street. He saw Susan walk up a set of stairs to her apartment and disappear inside. However, he didn’t know where the Mysterious Man went to.

  Des turned around. His eyes went in and out of focus. The Mysterious Man stood in front of him with a grin on his face. Des tried to focus on his facial features. He figured if he managed to get out of this somehow, he would need to remember it. But he couldn’t focus his bleary vision.

  The Mysterious Man slammed a fist in Des’s face. Des attempted to dodge out of the way, but he was too slow. Des crumpled to the wet ground of the alleyway.

  The impact of the blow caused his disguise to short out and disappear.

  Cryslis. Cryslis, Des thought, then he realized he turned it off.

  “Listen, kid,” the Mysterious Man’s gruff voice whispered. “Nothing’s going on as it seems. Things you think are real, aren’t. Trust no one.”

  The man walked away from the crumpled Des, but then stopped.

  “Oh. Your girlfriend is safe. That was bait to draw out my tails. I now know there are at least two of you. And congrats on managing to follow me. Not many can. This will be the second time I save your life, there will
not be a third. If I see you again, I will not miss, and I will not be using such a weak weapon.”

  Des tried to sit up, but his head swam. He was forced to lay back down. Even though the ground was wet, it was still comforting. Des closed his eyes to darkness.

  Des woke with a start. His body jolted. His last collective thought was to stop the man from attacking Susan. He stopped himself after a moment. He was lying on a couch in a strange apartment.

  “Oh good,” a person called. “You’re awake.”

  It took him a moment to connect the person with a name and a face. Des craned his neck to glimpse behind him. Susan. She had a less than pleased look on her face. She was still dressed in what she was wearing before, except her hair was let down to her shoulders.

  “What happened?” Des asked, his body shaking with nerves.

  “Some guy pushed my intercom saying a boy was lying in the gutter hurt,” Susan said. “Said some other youths attacked him. Was hoping to find help. Lucky me…”

  “Oh,” Des said, “I remember now.”

  Des thought fast. He had to save the situation, but he didn’t know how. This made him look like he was involved in criminal activities.

  “I followed you to apologize,” Des said, “and I saw this group of guys following you. I attacked them before they could mug you.”

  “Right,” Susan said, pausing. “Why didn’t you catch up to me?”

  “Cause you walk very fast,” Des said.

  “What are you involved in?” Susan asked.

  “What do you mean?” Des replied.

  “You’re acting very odd,” Susan said, scrutinizing. "First at the last missile attack. Now your grades have dropped. I don’t think you’re involved with criminals like your Uncle thinks, but I don’t know what.”

  “Wait,” Des said. “Did you carry me in here?”

  “No. That man did.”

  “Sweet Jupiter.”

  Des sprang off the couch and grabbed at his jacket. His phone was still there. He checked to make sure his other possessions were as well. His earpiece was missing.

  He pulled out his phone.

  “How long was I out for?” Des asked.

  “An hour or so. Why?”

  “I need to make a phone call,” Des replied.

  He selected Elsie from the contact list. Her phone rang twice.

  “Where in the name of Jupiter have you been?” Elsie demanded.

  Des held the phone away from his ear and winced a bit from the high-pitched voice.

  “No time to explain. Dump the buds,” Des said.

  “What? Why are you talking to me here and not the Net? This is unsecured.”

  “So is the Net. I was jumped by the target, and he took my earpiece.”

  “What?” Elsie said.

  “No time to explain, dump the buds, and meet up at location omega bravo,” Des said. “Contact the others.”

  Des hung up the phone.

  “What’s going on?” Susan yelled. “Buds? Target? What have you gotten into?”

  He turned to Susan. “I can’t tell you much. If anything at all. But I’m not involved with criminals or anything illegal.”

  “Then what are you involved with?”

  “I can’t tell you. I’m not allowed.”

  “So what do you want me to do?” Susan asked.

  “I want you to trust me,” Des said. “Humor me if you will. And help tutor me without freaking out if I space out once in a while.”

  Susan’s icy glare pierced into Des.

  “Fine,” Susan said. “I’ll do it for now. However, I expect a full explanation at some point.”

  Des gathered his stuff, and minutes later, ran down the rainy street. Water flowed onto his face and his hair matted to his head. The yahoo in the station spindle was trying to flood the station as the rain poured down by the buckets.

  He was certain he wasn’t being followed, but he was nervous, nonetheless. Des checked for tails every chance he got. Des didn’t see anything, but he wasn’t positive about anything anymore.

  After he was satisfied no one was watching him, Des ducked into a small alleyway. Cables and pipes ran over the opening. The alleyway was dark and cast shadows into the corners, and crevasses.

  Des followed the path for a couple of minutes until it came to an end. A single metal drainpipe ran down a corner of the alley. Des tapped a series of raps on the pipe.

  A rope fell from the roof. Des pulled himself up the rope and onto the flat roof of the brick building.

  Standing on top of the rope was Cooley. “This has gotten all sorts of messed up,” Cooley said, his face and tone grim.

  “Tell me about it,” Des said.

  “Cryslis isn’t happy.”

  “Who would be?”

  Des followed Cooley across the rooftop and into a hatch leading into a small room. It was in an abandoned apartment building deep in the Pink Sector with a couple boxes spread around the corners. A single light hung from the broken plaster of the ceiling.

  Cryslis and Elsie sat on boxes on the opposite sides of the room.

  “Sorry, it took me so long to get here,” Des said.

  “What happened?” Cryslis snapped, fury smeared across her face.

  Des explained everything.

  Cryslis stared him down, her anger simmering for a moment. “Did you get hit by the pin?”

  “On my arm,” Des said. “It hurt like hell.”

  “Let's see,” Cryslis replied, holding out her hand.

  Des lifted his right, pulling back his shirt. A large, black, nasty-looking bruise spread across his shoulder.

  “That looks bad,” Cryslis said. “Like an electrode-poison combo.”

  “Poison?” Des said.

  “Luckily, the pin didn’t penetrate your skin, or you’d be in worse shape. I don’t think it would have killed you, but you’d be hospitalized for a few weeks.”

  “That must be why I passed out,” Des said.

  “It is. I’m still pissed at you, but you did the right thing by getting us to dump the earbuds.”

  Des looked down at his feet.

  “I’m not a good spy,” Des said. “You should put me on the back burner. Before I get myself and you three killed.”

  Cooley walked up to Des and grabbed him by the shirt collar. With a quick snap, he slapped Des across the face.

  “If you want to get beat up, don’t do it yourself,” Cooley said. “I’ll happily beat you to a pulp for you. But otherwise, you fill an important role in this that none of us can do.”

  “And what’s that?” Des asked, his face stinging.

  “You’re our front man. You do all the chasing, the fighting, the dangerous stuff. It allows us to do other things unseen. If we need someone to stand on a street corner exposed or to run headlong into the Undercroft without hesitation, it’s you. Now enough of the self-pity bacta. We have work to do.”

  Cryslis and Elsie stared at Cooley shocked. Cooley was usually calm, collected. Not bound to bursts of emotion. Not like the rest of them. Cooley was often the last one to do anything rash, like slap a team member across the face.

  Des was unsure how to take the assault. His usual way would be to burst headlong into the situation and provoke people with sarcasm. However, now would be a bad idea.

  He couldn’t fight Cooley either. Anger and emotion would lead to more pain and laying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. Cooley was five years older than he was.

  “How do we salvage this situation?” Des asked.

  “That’s a good question,” Cooley said. “I think it’s up to our fearless leader.” Cooley turned to Cryslis. “Fearless leader, what’s the plan?”

  “New earbuds. New channel system. New authentication,” Cryslis said.

  Cooley nodded, picking up a case from the corner. “This is ‘B Set.’ It uses a similar authentication setup as the ‘A Set,’ but it’s a little different. More expensive, mind you. The brass might get miffed if we lose this set.”<
br />
  “Is it clean?” Cryslis asked.

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Good. And how are we on the scanner?”

  “Slow.”

  Cryslis turned to Elsie. “Go with Cooley to check it out. Come up with a plan to see if we can’t get some results.”

  Elsie nodded.

  “What’s my job?” Des said.

  “Take the night off. Get caught up on your homework and studying.”

  “Okay,” Des replied.

  “Also, I need a plan from you to neutralize Susan as a threat,” Cryslis said. “She suspects you too much and is a threat to this operation. And bringing her in isn’t an option.”

  Des nodded, gravely. “Neutralize? That sounds permanent.”

  “What choice do we have?” Cryslis said. “She knows too much. A simple slip-up and your cover with Sheemo or worse could be blown. That’s why we have our holo-disguises.”

  “My cover with the Mysterious Man is already blow. I was wearing my disguise, and when he hit me, it turned off. He knows who I am.”

  “It’s a separate issue,” Cryslis said. “We need to make sure Susan doesn’t do anything rash to you.”

  “I don’t want to hurt Susan.”

  “I’m with Des on this one,” Elsie chimed in. “I don’t want to see Susan get hurt.”

  “Then how do we make sure Susan keeps our secrets?” Cryslis said.

  Neither Des or Elsie said anything. Elsie peeked over to him with worry plastered on her face. Des felt the same.

  “I could plant something incriminating on her and get her arrested,” Cooley said.

  “That’s on the permanent side,” Des replied. “It’ll ruin her life.”

  “How about some type of drug?” Elsie said.

  “I know of a drug that can cause short-term memory loss,” Cooley said. “It’s hard to get and very illegal to have, but it may work.”

  “Can it remove specific events or like the entire time frame?” Des asked.

  “I’m sure it’s the entire time frame, but I can look into it to get the specifics,” Cooley said, then turned to Cryslis. “With your permission, of course.”

  “That sounds like the best idea we have at the moment,” Cryslis said. “If there is nothing else, let's disperse and get to work.”