In Icarus' Shadow

by Matthew Jones

  Chapter Nine

  "All right. I want to know everything you've found out so far, but we're going to start right at the very beginning."

  Thomas felt Nadia tense up, even from the opposite end of the couch they were both seated on. They had moved from the kitchen to the living room now; her parents sat across from them in their individual armchairs, one leather-bound and the other floral. Her mother was observing, but it seemed Mr. Lawson was taking charge at the moment. Nadia nodded at her father, an unspoken signal that she was as ready as she would ever be.

  "Have you found out the cause of all of this? Do you even know why these men are after you in the first place?"

  She blushed slightly. "Yes."

  Thomas looked to her, raising an eyebrow. This was news to him, as well. "You do?"

  She nodded and took a deep breath before continuing. "You remember when I took that weekend to follow those corporate higher-ups around?"

  Mrs. Lawson piped up, hiding a smirk behind her hand. "You mean the weekend after you watched that trilogy of films with Wesley Snipes for the first time and were convinced those executives were vampires because they had active night-lives?"

  The blush deepened. "Yes. That weekend."

  Mr. Lawson chuckled. "Oh yes, we remember. You smelled of garlic for days afterwards, but I had to admit I was impressed with how thorough you were. You had an inches-thick folder by the time you were satisfied they weren't secretly vampires. What does that have to do with this, though?"

  "Well... I asked Burgess why he had been sent after me and managed to get a few details out of him. He mentioned that his boss knew about the information I had dug up on that weekend and how much I was able to uncover. I don't know who he's working for yet, but I guess he sees me as threat enough to bother dealing with me."

  Her parents whistled in unison and her father shook his head. "That's what this is about? There's cautious and then there's just flat-out paranoid."

  Mrs. Lawson nodded in agreement. "I think that says something about how risky this is, as well. If the man is willing to have you mugged, or even killed, just to make sure you don't start digging up information about him someday, he must have something pretty damning to hide."

  Thomas frowned, mulling this over in his head. He knew he was there to lend moral support to Nadia more than speak. Her parents were not terribly fond of him just yet, or at least her father wasn't; it wasn't hard to see that the man disapproved of him. It didn't bother him especially, he imagined he would feel the same way if he had a daughter who brought home a boy. Besides, it gave him time to think and organize his own thoughts.

  "All right; we know the why then, paranoid reasoning aside. You've already said you don't know who Burgess works for, so what about this Black fellow? Do you know his employer?"

  "Sort of," Nadia admitted. "We know he goes by 'Orion', but we can't find anything else about him. I spent most of a night last week researching the name, but all I turned up were myths about the constellation."

  Mr. Lawson's expression became thoughtful for a moment. "Orion, huh," he mused to himself. "Interesting. So all you know so far is that Burgess' employer is paranoid enough to send him after you without provocation and Black is a mercenary working for a mystery man with unknown motives. That about right?"

  Nadia sighed, feeling her spirits sinking into her toes. "Yes."

  Mr. and Mrs. Lawson glanced to one another, nodding at the concern they saw in their spouse's eyes. "Thomas?"

  Suddenly included in the conversation, the young man looked up, startled. "Yes, Sir?"

  "Would you mind waiting outside? You're involved in this, but we need to talk to our daughter in private."

  "Oh," was about all Thomas could manage. He glanced to Nadia, who nodded that he should do as her father asked, but did not look pleased about it in the slightest. "All right."

  Her father nodded and the room was filled with an awkward silence as the young man left the room. The faint sound of the front door closing behind him seemed to reverberate through the void like a gong.

  Her father cleared his throat. "I want you to give up this investigation, Nadia."

  Nadia flinched at his blunt approach and felt her fears about the case silently agreeing with her father. Nevertheless, her stubbornness gave one last gasp in defence of her work. "But Daddy-"

  "No buts, Nadia. You've been straining your luck to its breaking point up to now, but you need to know when to back off. Burgess nearly got his hands on you at the hotel and Thomas was mugged in a back alley. It's a miracle he wasn't permanently injured and you only got off unharmed because another criminal turned up to address his own grudge with Burgess. You can't keep trusting that you'll make it out in one piece."

  Everything he said was right on target, but the sting the truth brought was enough to get her dander up. "That isn't fair, Daddy. We tried to plan things out for the meeting with Black. Yes, it went badly, but it was our first time arranging a meeting with a potential murderer." She heard the sarcasm beginning to seep into her voice and relented. "I admit that we've been lucky and maybe we've relied a little too much on that luck, but we've been learning from those mistakes, too."

  Mr. Lawson sighed. "All right, but it's a steep curve to learn on and a painful fall if you stumble. I know you want to make a big splash when you enter the world of journalism, but why not look at it realistically? You know you don't have to impress anyone, you're my daughter and all of the local newspaper owners have met you at one birthday party or another. They know you've got the talent and guts to be an asset to them and their paper. Is it really worth risking your life to tell them something they've known for years?"

  Nadia blinked at him for a moment and found herself remembering her reason for embarking on this investigation in the first place. It wasn't that she wanted fame, or even that she wanted a better-than-entry-level job. It was for acknowledgement. She remembered the parties her father had mentioned. She remembered the glowing praise she had received from his friends and associates for whatever schoolwork he had asked her to show them at the time. At first she had been pleased, as any child would have been, but when she got older she saw that the praise had come regardless of how good the work actually was. She knew that not all of the work her father had pushed under his friends' noses had been worth the big deal they made over it; she was confident in herself but did not make a habit of blowing her own horn. In time, she had begun to resent the fuss they made because it was for her father's benefit more than hers. He had been the top reporter of his generation and they were convinced she would be the same for hers. And maybe she would be, but she was determined to earn it first, not let her father's reputation carry her into a bigger office.

  "Sweet-Pea?"

  Drawn from her thoughts, she smiled calmly at her father. "Yes, Daddy, I believe so."

  "Pardon?" He blinked, as if unsure she was responding to the question he had asked. "I was asking you-"

  "I know what you were asking me. I was giving you my answer. Yes, it is worth it."

  Mr. Lawson stared at her, uncomprehending. "But... why?"

  Nadia shrugged. "For exactly the same reason you think I shouldn't risk it, Daddy. I don't want to be a success because of what anyone else has done. I don't want to be 'Mr. Lawson's little girl' while I'm at work. I love you dearly, but I want my colleagues to respect me for what I've done, not what you've done."

  Her father continued to stare, his expression ranging from being upset to showing a glimmer of pride, but his mouth seemed unable to form any of it into a coherent sentence. Her mother, smiling quietly, stepped in to fill the void. "You're sure then, Sweet-Pea?"

  She nodded, feeling her confidence returning with every word. "Very. I know that it's dangerous. I know I could get myself killed. And that scares me, it scares me a lot. But I know I could never be truly happy if I found myself at the top without feeling like I earned it for myself. Maybe it's naive of me and maybe it's foolish, but the person I most want to be proud of
me is me. So I can't turn away from this, not even to do the smart thing. A little girl may have gotten the ball rolling on this story by chasing spooks and vampires, but a woman is the one who is ready to see the consequences of that little girl's actions through to their conclusion."

  Mrs. Lawson smiled, wiping at her eye with the back of her hand. "You've grown up so quickly... It's starting to feel like you don't need us anymore."

  Nadia shook her head. "I'll always need you. Both of you. But I have to learn to do things for myself and in my own way. How else will I be able to teach my future kids the things you've taught me?"

  Mr. Lawson coughed, looking at the carpet. "I still say you're too young to be thinking about that sort of thing, Sweet-Pea, but... I can't say I don't agree with you about the rest of it. As much as I wish I could." He looked up with an apologetic smile. "You'd take the world by storm if you had your way, huh?"

  She grinned. "That sounds about right. But don't worry, I'll be careful. I can't earn my spot on the top if I get shoved off of the mountain-side before getting there. And I can't think of anyone I would rather have looking over my shoulder than Thomas. He worries enough for both of us and he's the most reliable person I know."

  "Do you have to keep bringing up the boy?" Her father sighed, rubbing his temples. "I've been doing my best to forget about that part of the situation."

  Nadia frowned. "What do you mean 'the boy'? Thomas is my friend, Daddy. And you've been as close to rude as I've ever seen you towards him all evening."

  Mrs. Lawson patted her daughter's arm reassuringly, but smiled teasingly at her husband. "Your father is just experiencing separation anxiety, Dear. It's going to take him a little while to realize his little girl has another man in her life."

  Nadia felt herself flush. "I've already told both of you, Thomas is just a friend. Do you know how long it's been since I've had one of those? I took my studies very seriously while in school and I spent all of my free time chasing leads. Sure, I made some acquaintances who I spoke to, but never anyone I felt particularly close to."

  Mr. Lawson sighed and Mrs. Lawson stifled a giggle with her hand. "You can go right on thinking that for as long as you like, Sweet-Pea. I for one think Thomas is a lovely young man, he has a good head on his shoulders."

  Nadia rolled her eyes. "I'll go on thinking the truth, Mother. But thank you, I'm glad one of you two can give him some credit."

  Her mother smiled innocently. "We give credit where it is due. He's rather easy on the eyes, too, isn't he?"

  "MOM!"