Children of Ambition

by J. J. McAvoy

  There was that stab to my chest again.

  Shoving more food into my mouth, I tried to suffocate my desire to scream at him with the waffles.

  “Slow down; I’ll make more,” he said, refilling my glass. “Least I can do for your cousinly therapy sessions.”

  I hated him.

  “Seriously though, Helen, I appreciate it,” he said, patting me on my head.

  I really hated him.

  “But you aren’t allowed to get married for at least two years while I get over this Dona nonsense, you hear me?” He smiled genuinely, like a kid.

  And all I could do was smack his hand away and flip him off, causing him to laugh.

  I fuckin’ hated him…

  Liar.

  WYATT

  Get over this Dona nonsense?

  Impossible.

  How do you get over losing a part of you?

  Losing… That’s what it felt like. Like I was losing touch with her. She didn’t even seem to remember I was near her anymore. Every time I looked, her mind was on Gabriel and it was starting to piss me off.

  I shared with one person and that was my sister; but I didn’t share my sister.

  I wanted him gone. But… Did she?

  FIFTEEN

  “I am the guardian of power, not its owner.”

  ~ Vicente Fox

  HELEN

  “Cain, check to see if the ADSL signal is connecting to the SAAS.” I didn’t get a reply. “Cain?”

  Slowly, I slid from under the panel in the wall, only to see grey eyes staring directly at me, causing me to jump so that I narrowly avoided hitting my head.

  “Hi—”

  “Jesus, Mary mother of Joseph!” I screamed, sliding out further, ready to smack the hell out of him. He just laughed.

  “I think you got that phrase a little mixed up.”

  “Gabriel! How did you get in here?” I snapped, trying to rise. He offered me his hand and I stared at for a long moment before taking it. He pulled me to stand.

  “I walked through the door,” he answered, looking around at the grey and white pixelated walls around us. Each pixel fell like square rain drops on the wall. Slowly, he took in each and every corner of room. He was dressed in all black; a casual top and jeans, a leather wrist band. His blond-brown hair was still a little wet. “It’s like something out of a science fiction novel,” he added.

  “You shouldn’t have been able to just walk in here,” I said, taking a step away from him towards the intercom? “Cain, how is he inside?”

  “Who is Cain—?”

  “Systems operations back online. Please repeat question?” Cain’s voice finally replied.

  “Cain is AI?” Gabriel grinned, nodding to himself as he walked slowly up to the walls of the room.

  “Cain, there is an intruder.”

  “Scanning.” The room flashed. “No intruder found.”

  “What?” I asked, staring wide-eyed at the man before me. There was no way in hell he could mask himself in here. “Identify occupants.”

  “Helen Badass Callahan and Gabriel, found,” Cain answered.

  I wanted to groan when Gabriel turned around and looked at me, a wide grin on his lips. “Don’t.”

  He raised his hands up in defense. “I didn’t say anything.”

  Moving to the glass table in the center of room, I opened my laptop and tried to figure out why he was identified. The only way that could happen was if someone put him in the system…my system.

  “Evelyn told me about this, but I didn’t believe it,” he said, still in awe. For the second time, I paused, looking at him.

  “My grandmother couldn’t have given you access—”

  “She said she’d make her son do it.”

  “Dad,” I sneered through clenched teeth. I knew someone had been in the system! I’d spent few days trying to rewire the whole system, thinking someone had hacked me and it was my own father! Taking the tie out of my hair, I tossed it on the table and scratched the side of my head.

  “What does Cain stand for?”

  “Callahan Active-Matrix Information Networking System,” I replied, taking a seat in the white curved hourglass chair behind me.

  “Evelyn said it allows you to find people anywhere in the word?”

  Ethan was going to be pissed once he learned Gabriel had been in here. He might even end up killing him. Cain was a secret we didn’t even talk about within the family, despite the fact that we all knew it existed.

  “Not exactly,” I answered. “It allows us to use facial recognition and cross-reference it with security cameras all around the world.”

  But that was just the tip of the iceberg.

  Gabriel glanced over his shoulder at me. “Isn’t that the same thing?”

  “No, it isn’t. If you go underground and off the grid, we’ll only know the last place—none of that is important right now. Why are you here? Why did my father give you access to this? And most importantly, is he the reason we can’t find out who the hell you are?”

  “They weren’t joking around when they say crime has become organized,” he replied, ignoring me. “Who would have thought the Mafia would become the eye in the sky like this—”

  “Gabriel, I’m not one for violence, but I can call some people who are.”

  “Helen,” he sighed like he was exhausted then walked around the table, leaning on one of the chairs. “I come in peace, I swear.”

  “Liar.” I knew that much for fact. “People who come in peace don’t come near our family. If you are here, it means you are here for war. But war with who?”

  “Cain, can I see a map of Europe?” he asked and just like that, the pixels came together to form the map he’d asked for.

  “You’re at war with Europe?” I asked, watching him as he looked over the map without answering. “You’re truly pushing your luck. Ethan is going to kill you for being in here, and maybe even my father and grandmother for granting you access. It’s only for family—”

  “I’ll just have to make sure I become family, then.” he smiled and I could see the small dimple in his cheek. It was chilling, the way he smiled; he looked so innocent and so sweet. You’d never think he was the same man who’d dropped a pair of severed hands on Donatella’s plate. “That’s the real reason I’m here, anyway.”

  “Here in the mansion or here in this room?” I questioned.

  “Both,” he replied, looking around the room. “But before I get to my main point, I want know…would you build this…another Cain—?”

  “No,” I replied.

  “Why?”

  “One, I don’t think you have the funds for it.”

  He frowned at that. “Whatever the price is, I can pay it, I assure you.”

  “Two, it took my father and I years to build Cain. It’s a two people, no, a two genius job. He has carpal tunnel in his hand from coding so much. I’m not going to put him through that.”

  “Surely someone else—”

  “Three, I only work with people I absolutely trust. Four, Ethan wouldn’t like it or allow it. Five, yes, I care what Ethan allows or not. Six, your family don’t need your own if you can just use this one.”

  “Fine, I’ll ask again later.” He snickered, taking a seat in the chair beside me. “Now to the most important reason I came…Donatella.”

  “I’m not involved—”

  “She’s your best friend, isn’t she?” he asked and I really wanted to know just how much Evelyn had told him. He knew way too much about us all. No wonder he unnerved Dona so much. It was like he’d studied up on each and every one of us and knew just how and when to approach.

  He was dangerous.

  But to who?

  “What about Dona?” I asked, making sure to hit the record button on the side of my computer.

  “I want to take her on a date.”

  “Excuse me?” Well, I wasn’t expecting that. He was in a room where I could literally pull up information on anyone he wanted, and he wa
nted to ask me about dating Dona?

  “What is her dream date?” he asked seriously but gently, those eyes of his eyes warm and kind and caring. It was so hard for me to merge the two sides of him I’d been witness to: the cold-blooded murderer and the guy simply asking about a girl he wanted take out.

  “Her dream date?”

  He nodded. “I’m sure she doesn’t talk about that stuff now, but you’ve know her your whole life. You must remember her wanting to do one thing if she hadn’t been born a Callahan. Something she wanted to do but couldn’t.”

  “I’ll answer your question, if you answer mine,” I replied.

  “Ask anything but who I am and what I’m doing.” He nodded and I wanted to kick him over the head. Those were the two most important questions yet he was deflecting from both of them; who could he be that was so bad, even with this family, that everything about him was shrouded in secrecy? Not only that… Why were our parents helping him so much?

  “Helen?”

  “Cain, what is Gabriel’s cell phone number?”

  “Only known number…737-8141.”

  Taking out my phone, I texted him what he needed to know.

  “Is there a reason you didn’t just ask me?” Gabriel leered, taking out his phone but not reading the message.

  “Yes,” I said, leaning back and crossing my legs. “You enjoy fucking with us like this. But the difference between me and everyone else I don’t like getting involved in those games. I trust the people who helped you get in here well enough to know that whatever we get out of you down the track must be worth the provocation right now. You and I will revisit this conversation when all of our cards are on the table.”

  He rose to his feet, amused. “If only everyone else was like you, we could get to the good part of this story so much quicker.”

  “Of course, they can’t be like me; I’m the black sheep of the family.” I winked at him.

  He laughed and nodded. “Thank you, Helen. I owe you one. When my cards are on the table, I’ll pay my due.”

  I didn’t say anything else as I watched him walk to the only part of the wall not pixelated, pressing his hand on the door which opened to let him out.

  “Session saved,” Cain said.

  “Send it to Ethan, then call my father.”

  “Session sent. Calling Declan Callahan.”

  I listened to it ring twice before he answered, “Hi Melon; your mom and I were just talking about you.”

  “Daddy…” I spun around in my chair, looking up at the ceiling, “You’re in trouble.”

  “Story of my life,” he snickered. “What have I done now?”

  “Gabriel?”

  He didn’t reply.

  “Sweetheart?” My mother came on the line.

  “Did Dad just palm me off to you—?”

  “Forget about that. How’s Gabriel? Does Donatella like him?”

  These people had no shame. “Well, she sent six men to kill him.”

  “You ladies are dead-set on being alone, aren’t you?”

  I stopped spinning at that and sat up. “Mother, there better not be any random men ready to claim they’re engaged—”

  “I’d kill him!” I heard my father yell in the background.

  “So, you’re still there?!”

  I might have been the black sheep, but the wolves loved me and because of that love I built Cain alone to make sure they were always the hunters and never the hunted. It was the one thing I could do for them, seeing as how I didn’t get any blood on my hands. I wasn’t a fighter like Donatella. I wasn’t determined to prove myself like Nari. I was the guardian.

  Gabriel didn’t need to know that, though.

  SIXTEEN

  “Because there was a hunger in me to see everything and do everything. I wanted to be everyone I saw. I wasn't enough for me. Can you understand that?”

  ~ Sidney Sheldon

  DONATELLA

  “Is Ivy coming today, Donatella?” Brigitte, the governor’s wife, asked as we walked through the high-school building - another Callahan foundation chore.

  “Am I not enough company, Brigitte?” I asked her, looking up at the wall of the self-portraits the senior class had drawn and displayed. They were all terribly bad; many of them looking as if they hadn’t even tried. With the expectation of one who hadn’t focused on realism, instead drawing a self-portrait of themselves in Cubism, only partially in color.

  “Ms. Callahan?”

  I looked back over my shoulder to the small group of women around me. Principal Pomar, a thin Hispanic woman who wore glasses I didn’t think she needed, hurried to my side.

  “Do you like them? Our seniors worked really hard on them this year.”

  I pointed to the only one that caught my attention. “Who did this one?”

  The woman frowned then took a deep breath, shaking her head and fingering the fake pearls around her neck. “Penélope Muñoz who is, as you can see, a troubled girl. I told the art director to take down but he insisted it would add contrast—”

  “I’ve heard that name.” Fatimah Gupta came forward and leaned in, whispering, “Is she the pregnant one? Her mother came down here once, correct?”

  The principal cringed but nodded, glancing around before saying, “We’re a Catholic school, we didn’t want her to abort it. We told her to stay home till after the baby was born, then restart. However, her mother came here and made quite a fuss. We just left her to herself; she’s only making it harder for her daughter. I feel for the mother though, she’s a single mother what else—”

  “Where is this Penélope?” I asked, interrupting their need for useless gossip.

  She had to think before looking down at her watch. “I believe it’s lunch period for most of her grade.”

  “Brilliant, we’ll get to see the cafeteria as well. I’d love to see how that healthy choice initiative your husband signed is working, Fatimah,” I said, looking to Principal Pomar and waiting. She looked to rest of them and I wondered why; they weren’t the largest donors to the school. I was. “Is there a problem?”

  “Of course not, right this way. We’ve just had the whole kitchen menu…”

  I stopped paying attention at that point as we walked through the hall. Each of the monthly meetings for The Callahan Foundation served a dual purpose, as we also discussed our family business, charity which didn’t benefit us had a very clear objective. Nari, Helen, and I often went to different schools, parks, hospitals, and various other organizations for the public to, as my cousin Darcy would say, “toss gold coins.”

  I’m sure Ivy, once she got settled, would pick her charities to shower money on as well. The objective was to make people feel grateful to us, or at the very least, not detest us. People had tendency to hate the rich, especially the generational rich, and that hate turned to violence if they suffered long. It was what brought about the Reign of Terror.

  To prevent anarchy, toss gold. My aunt Cora had taught us that when we were young, and we all still lived by it now.

  “Here we are,” Principal Pomar said as we stood at the upper level, looking down at the students who all laughed, ate, and drank among themselves.

  I wondered how it was possible for high school to never change. Even at my boarding school for girls it had been the same. Everyone broke into cliques; the pretty and popular, then the anti-popular kids who thought they were so cool because they smoked cheap cigarettes and listened to older music. Then of course, there were the traditional athletes, nerds, and the geeks. Yes, those were separate groups. I knew, thanks to Helen, that nerds were intelligent and industrious, while geeks, apparently, were random people who cared immensely about random things no one else gave two shits about. Penélope Muñoz was not among any of them. She sat all the way at the back with her nose in a book, eating a homemade sandwich. I knew it was her right away; her stomach was a dead giveaway.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said to them, walking to the side steps.

  “Ms. Callahan
?” They called after me but I ignored them and walked down by myself.

  It didn’t take long for the boys to notice and stop talking to gawk. I wanted to smack a few of the jocks who thought it was funny to flex and blow kisses at me.

  “Isn’t that Donatella Callahan?” a girl to the right of me whispered. “She’s so freaking pretty.”

  “With that much money, we could all be pretty,” another of them mumbled and I wanted to stop and tell her not enough money in the world could change her ugly little mouth. I restrained myself, knowing her greedy parents would claim I’d bullied her and caused mental distress in hopes of getting a pay day.

  Instead of replying, I ignored them, allowing them to talk and think what they wanted. Their lives were going to be insignificant to me, as always.

  Knock. Knock. I beat my knuckles in front of her brown paper lunch bag. With mustard on the side of her lips, Penélope stared at me wide-eyed.

  “Can I sit?”

  Frowning, she took out her earbuds. “I guess I don’t own the table.”

  As I sat across from her, she sat up a little straighter.

  “I saw your drawing.” She didn’t seem to hear me; she was too focused on everyone else.

  “On second thought, maybe you shouldn’t sit here. Everyone is staring at you,” she quietly spoke, then leaned in.

  “Are you sure it’s not the mustard on your chin they’re staring at?” I asked her and she rushed for a napkin, wiping her face.

  “Of freaking course.” She laughed sadly to herself. Dropping the napkin on the table before looking to me. “Let me guess, you’re one of those PTA moms who want to help me make the right choice?”

  “I should smack you across the face. Do I look old enough to be the mother of a high-school student?”

  She tilted her head to the side. “Honestly, I can’t tell anymore with the Botox they keep injecting into their faces. But I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt since your face still moves when you talk.”