by Farley Dunn
“Garik!”
A hand clapped him on the shoulder. Garik turned to a familiar face.
“Jantzen, hi. I haven’t seen Christian today.”
“No.” He didn’t offer an explanation. “Perhaps he can make it tonight. I see you’re back on good terms with the Airman.”
“Speaking, anyway. He speaks, and I don’t.” Garik heard the criticism, and he knew Jantzen understood. A month ago, he’d have not dared say that. Maybe in anger, but then he’d be forced to apologize and accept the consequences.
“Sometimes best. They are our overlords. He who controls the purse strings, and that they do.”
“Feel for me. I’m the peon.” That’s the way he felt, too. On the raised area where the Ace of Holes would perform, the action was getting under way. The Ace of Holes was a magic venue, and they had a live elephant on the stage with three men attempting to control it. “I need to find my friends.”
“Go north. I suggested they meet you there. That’s the one spot you’ll be able to see some of the Tower’s light show.”
“It’s not real, Jantzen. You made that clear.”
“Suit yourself. I must mingle. Maybe we will bump into each other later. If not, lunch tomorrow?”
Garik hesitated. Did the man know about Justin’s recording? Is that why he wanted to have lunch with him?
“Or not?” Jantzen glanced around, his eyes already taking in the people he intended to connect with. If there was an ulterior motive, Garik couldn’t find it.
“Okay. Sure, why not. I’ll see you then.”
Jantzen clenched a fist at chest level, shook it and grinned. “Enjoy the show, my friend.” He turned, calling to a woman with long, black bangs that did a poor job of covering a scar on her forehead. “Angelica, do you have a minute?”
CHOW DOWN in the actual food court might be shuttered for the night’s event, but tonight’s magic show was a very different performance than the Howling Pterodactyl’s energy-infused assault on people’s senses. Numerous Chow Down food kiosks were set up across the mall, with “street-friendly” fare: hot links, burgers, and cheese-covered nachos. Garik was several blocks in when Giselle placed a hand on his arm.
“There you are, Garik. Come. I’ve been sent to reel you in.” She winked at him, smiling.
“You like Paolo. Why do you smile at everyone like that?”
“Oh, poo.” She blew out her cheeks. “How do you see through me so easily?” Still, she wrapped one arm in his, and she walked right up against him.
“No one can miss it.” Garik felt the pressure of her arm. She wasn’t Marisa, so it meant nothing to him.
“Except Paolo.”
“I know.”
“Oh, you! Why I volunteered to come find you, I’ll never know.” She pulled her arm away, and she made a pouty face.
He shrugged. “I could have found you guys. I didn’t need someone to find me. I always know just where I am. Besides, I would have expected Julia.”
“Right. Heat-sensing. Too many people to single you out.”
“I didn’t think of that.”
They walked for a bit together. This far out, the crowds were thinner, and the night sky was growing darker. Behind Corona Tower, the two-story parking garage seemed truncated next to the glass skyscraper. Headlights flashed inside, someone exiting, likely, and he remembered the family that was arriving for a visit at Stamford Suites the day Marisa and he fell down the elevator into the lair that had trapped him. Likely, whoever was in that vehicle was a Stamford Suites guest, in the tower for a night or two, and out to freedom whenever they pleased.
At some point, Giselle had encircled her arm around his again, and when they reached the table where the others were, she patted his arm, looked up at him, and purred, only stopping when it was clear that Paolo was paying no attention.
Alyna was seated next to Paolo, and she was showing him something. Garik couldn’t see what.
Joanie called to him, “Gari! Made it! Whoop, Devon! Convinced you!”
“Yah, twisted my arm.”
“Glad he did. Fun show, tonight.” Joanie’s mohawk seemed to be painted brighter than ever, or maybe it was catching the light of the setting sun over the distant water in the harbor. She looked down, pulled out a fresh package of mints, opened them and popped one before looking away.
Leigh and Laura waved. They were deep in a discussion, and Garik didn’t pay much mind. John was returning from a food kiosk, bare-armed in the chill, and he walked up behind Garik, bumping his elbow to Garik’s shoulder.
“We’ve been waiting on you.” He nodded at the others, several of them intent on something or the other. “Have you heard—”
He was interrupted by Joanie, who called, “Nachos! Here, John. You! The very, very best.”
“I’ll be right back, Garik. What I’ve got to discuss is important.”
Marco, with his lemur’s tail showing more distinct stripes than when Garik had first met him, sidled up to a table, seeming to appear out of nowhere, and he reached for the food John held.
Joanie was standing by then, and she had John by the elbow, pulling him out of Marco’s reach. She tugged him to her table, farther from Garik and the answer to the question in his mind.
Important? What do you mean important? And . . . and . . . you’re going to leave me hanging out there?
Sheesh, John! What have I ever done to you?
JULIA CANTOS was the final person Garik noticed.
“Julia, I didn’t see you there.” He remembered: not moving and not being seen were part of Julia’s camouflage.
“I could sense you from a block away.” She pointed the direction of the Tower. “Look. The world’s seen nothing like it. A miracle. A giant structure of glass and steel, and there it is. Bam, blowing up right before our eyes. THE BUILDING.” She said her final two words like capital letters, and she laughed, ending in a rasping cough. “Sorry, I’ll need some gum on that note.”
Garik followed her arm. Close to the base, the Tower looked normal, as always, but as he raised his eyes, he could see the familiar silicon glitter flash in the sky, as the Tower shattered into a million pieces and fell, flashing in brilliance to the ground, only to lift back into the sky and reform the Tower into a whole once again.
Except that the effect didn’t extend all the way to the ground. The angle of the projectors, perhaps, or some other way that the image refracted from this angle; whatever, the shattering tower was incomplete. And, from here, it was just possible to see the dim imprint of the Tower impressed into the black velvet of the night sky even as the glitter showered the street, thereby ruining the effect.
“Not as pretty as when seen from the city.” He shrugged, not impressed, and turned away, taking the seat next to Julia and falling into it.
“Got that right. Most things are prettier from the outside. What I see is best of all.” She slipped a stick of gum in her mouth, and she chewed it twice before she began to pop it.
“What do you see that’s best?” Garik needed a better way to see everything about his situation.
“I see the inside you.” She cupped her hands in the air, framing him
“Ah. Body heat.”
“And you have a lot going on in there. I predict you’re about to evolve. We all do once we take the drug.”
“The modified DNA serum.” He wasn’t sure he was ready.
“Julia.” John slipped in beside them. “Garik, has anyone talked to you?”
“Yah, Julia’s said a mouthful.” He grinned, and John laughed.
“I imagine. No, about this.” He pulled out a flash drive identical to the one Justin had dropped on Garik’s coffee table.
“I’m not getting left out of this little party.” Julia worked a cord from around her neck. She also had one of the drives.
As did every person in the group.
“JANTZEN ACTED like there might be a problem with Christian earlier.” Garik had a rash of pitted prunes in his stomach—the pits n
ot the prunes. “Is it possible that Justin’s that big a fool?”
“What benefit could he get from it?” Giselle pushed her lips into a pouty shape, and she wilted into her chair.
“Revenge. He wants to get even with me.” Garik knew it could be the only answer. He’d heard the man’s words, that he had been demoted.
“It’s more than just you besting him in the ring.” Paolo tapped his claw-like nails on the tabletop. “He’s been, maybe not bested, but restrained many times. If he wanted revenge, there’s almost everyone on the campus he’d have to take revenge on.”
“Does he have a conflict with Christian? Maybe that’s the difference.”
Leigh cleared her throat. Tonight, she wore a full sharkskin coat, with a tight collar and large, oversized pockets. When she had their attention, she half stood, then dropped back down. Laura placed her hand on her arm, and Leigh brushed it off and stood.
“Christian has a conflict with nobody, except those fools.” She pointed, and sure enough Rodheimer and Sunchaser were coming their way.
Alyna’s claws flexed, giving off a rubbing sound each time they slipped in or out.
Marco dropped to the floor of the mall, and his voice hissed from under the table, “Maybe backing out is the thing to do.”
Laura leaned under the table and hissed, “No, you little weasel, you.”
“I’m not a weasel, you, you, worm, you. I’m a lemur.”
“And John’s a wood frog, and he doesn’t hide under the tables. Get up here, you weasel.” Laura reached under the table, grabbed the nape of his neck, and forced him to sit in a chair.
Hands throughout the group wrapped around mini flash drives, making them disappear as one.
Weston Rodheimer appeared out of the darkness, occluding the better part of the night, while dragging behind him a dark raincloud of muted shadow. Halo Sunchaser basked in his wake, tall and spare to his immense proportions.
“Joanie,” Rodheimer began, recognizing the accepted leader of the group. He nodded at Garik. “I see you’ve claimed the boy.”
“He needed claiming.” Joanie gave a complete sentence, clearly to appease the man.
“See, Halo, she can construct a complete sentence.”
“As you say, Weston.” Sunchaser nodded, but her eyes were soaking up the boy, like he had something she would like to possess if only given the opportunity.
Garik felt the drive in his hand press into his skin. He prayed to himself, Not now. They can’t know. Please don’t let Justin have told.
“Okay,” Rodheimer announced. “The party is there. Break this up and act like you’re enjoying it.”
The man held his position until the group on the edge of the mall began to shift position and move away.
Garik found himself with Marco, as the others broke off to go different directions. He double-checked his pocket, wishing now he’d left the little memory device anywhere else. That had been so close.
“Are we giving up?” Marco tugged at his sleeve. “Huh, Garik? You’ve been spending the most time with him. Are we giving up?”
“I’m not.” He glared at the little lemur man. He had jumped under the table. Who does that?
He knew the real question should be what does that?
“And good heavens, Marco, what is that smell?”
“I was nervous.” Marco’s tail flicked back and forth. “I do that when I get nervous. Sorry.”
“Do what, wet yourself?” It was much worse than that.
“I marked your leg.” Marco shrugged. “It happens. I try to stop, but sometimes it’s hard.”
Garik lifted his leg, took a whiff, and nearly lost his nachos. And his leg was four feet from his nose.
“It doesn’t smell too bad.” Marco smiled. “Now if it gets wet—” he snickered “—that’s a different story.”
“And I’m supposed to wear this all night. Sheesh, Marco!”
The night sky had grown darker, and Garik realized he could no longer see the stars. Any light other than from the mall lighting came from buildings that overlooked the mall, and none of them were close.
A rumble started on the horizon, then spidery lightning crawled across the sky. Dark circles appeared on the pavement, then more and more, until their pant legs were ringed with streaks of moisture.
And the smell. Garik knew that if he were hunted, no one would have any trouble locating him. Just take a whiff, locate the stinkiest thing around, and shoot him dead.
He might even welcome it if he had to wear these clothes much longer.
― 6 ―
THE RAIN battered the mall for a few minutes, a torrent of cold running off tables and sending the food kiosks into panic, covering their wares with giant tarps.
Then it was gone. The sky cleared, and the stars erupted in a cacophony of brilliant diamonds filling the cosmos overhead.
The marquee on the mall continued to blaze with the Ace of Holes logo. The water dripping from the sign gave it a futuristic look, sparkly, fracturing the lights into multiple tiny rainbows.
Alyna and John had found Garik and Marco. They stood under the building, wet but not soaked. Others on the mall dripped, some twirling in the melee, their arms out, the release of a week’s pent-up emotions bleeding out and running down the pavement like the water from the skies.
The elephant from the magic trick lifted its trunk, tossed its ears side to side, trumpeted.
“Looks like he’s having fun.” John pointed.
“She’s having fun,” Alyna suggested, giving him a jab in the elbow.
“How is it you’re not cold?” The tall man’s arms were uncovered, and Garik shivered.
“He’s a walking heat pump.” Alyna tittered. “It’s the frog in his veins.”
“Enough, Alyna,” John cautioned.
“I never found Christian.” Garik wanted to see him. He clenched his fists inside his coat pockets, creating bulbous half circles, and he wondered where Jantzen might be. Under the Tower had become standing room only when the sky was really falling, but the press of people was thinning. If the man were around, now would be the time to locate him, before everyone spread over the sixty-four blocks that made up the mall once again.
As Garik scanned the crowd, he caught Airman Vang a dozen tables over watching him. Airman Vang. As soon as Garik caught his eye, the Airman turned, lifted his nose, and began to speak to someone at his side.
Garik clenched his jaw. What am I to you, Airman Vang? A stone in your shoe? Someone who’s achieved something you want to destroy? Whatever, it can’t be good.
Jantzen was with Joseph Howard. Garik excused himself, saying he needed to speak with Jantzen, and he left them to brave the dripping skies or not, their choice. It became clear that Joseph wasn’t there to enjoy the magic show. He held a long push broom with tight bristles. The end was wet, and an area behind him showed drying brush marks where a puddle of water had been worked into a drain.
Some peons are lower than other peons, Garik considered, feeling a swell of emotion for someone farther down the totem pole than him. He didn’t get to think more on it, because a ruckus out on the open mall caught everyone’s attention. The noise escalated, and swathes of people like waves of cloth billowed that direction, hiding whatever was going on. Jantzen was talking into his watch, and even with the distance and the noise, Garik heard him bark, “Now! Start the fireworks. Or people are going to notice the real show.”
Jantzen looked up, saw Garik watching him, and shrugged. He mouthed, “Here we go again,” or did Garik just imagine that’s what he might have said? In either case, Jantzen’s eyes turned a rich purple, deeper than Garik had seen before, and his clothes fell to the pavement, with only wisps of purple smoke coming out of the sleeves by the time Garik got there.
“He’s done it again.” Joseph grinned. “Likely will do it again, sometime.”
“He’ll want these.” Garik gathered up his clothes. Fireworks on the mall began exploding, sending colored shadows dancing
across the food court.
“Yep. Good seeing you.” Joseph nodded, lowered his broom handle, and began pushing the next puddle of color-dappled water to the drain.
POOR MARCO.
Garik lay in bed with the darkness swirling around him, and he pictured the little lemur-enhanced man as he was wheeled off to the elevator to spend the night in the hospital, the reason the military presence was so strong on the mall during events.
Tonight, Marco had seen Justin arrive, and Garik guessed, with the memory of their discussion about Justin’s spying and intimidation, the little guy hadn’t been able to resist. He’d run up behind Justin, turned around, and scented him before running off.
John and Alyna were laughing, not expecting much of it, but Justin knew the aroma at first whiff. Marco was prone to marking locations all around the facility, and when he did, people knew exactly what they were smelling.
The bigger issue was that Marco could run between people, sometimes through their legs, or under their arms if they were holding hands, and certainly underneath tables and chairs.
Justin could do none of that, and he was blinded to everything except catching the little man and making him pay. What did not move out of his way was forced out of the way, and that included normal humans, hybridized humans, furniture, anything.
The people Justin slammed through often didn’t see him coming, and he was gone by the time they picked themselves up. The person nearest got the blame, so Marco’s little trick with Justin soon had a dozen fights spreading across the mall.
Justin had disappeared, but Marco hadn’t been able to walk once Justin finished with him. Garik never did find Jantzen and left his clothing on the lobby desk on Level 1.
So, what were Justin’s strong points? Why was he hybridized from a praying mantis? Garik wasn’t sure he’d understand even if anyone told him.
What a night!
He turned, settled in, and listened to the gentle hum of the air from the overhead vent. Often it lulled him to sleep, especially when his thoughts ran away with his mind, causing him to toss and turn.