Eye of the Sh*t Storm

by Jackson Ford

  Shit. I told him I couldn’t work with the China Shop guys on this, but I never told him not to reach out himself. Truly? I didn’t think it was an option. It just never occurred to me that Nic knew any of them.

  I change tack. “How did you even have her number anyway?”

  “We’ve spoken a couple of times.”

  “What do you mean? When?”

  “After the whole thing with Jake, where you blew up my apartment? She bought me lunch. Guerrilla Tacos.”

  Of course. Annie’s Army. If you’re Annie, and your whole MO is digging up useful contacts, why wouldn’t you want someone in the District Attorney’s office?

  “You never said anything,” I tell him.

  He shrugs. “Honestly? It never came up.”

  “Seriously? You couldn’t have mentioned—?”

  “Oh, you do not get to talk about not telling people things,” Annie says, without turning around.

  Ouch. OK, fair. Maybe I should draw a line under this particular conversation. “How did you guys even know where to find us? We weren’t at the gym yet.”

  “Heard him screaming.” Nic nods to Leo.

  The kid still has the damn wiggles, worse than before. His leg twitches, foot jerking. Nic gazes at him for a moment before turning back to me. “Figured something was going down, so we came to help.”

  I bow my head, trying to force back the heat blossoming on my cheeks. “Thanks. That was… yeah.”

  Annie mutters something evil-sounding, shaking her head.

  “Where’s Africa?” I say, looking around, half-expecting the big guy to pop up from behind a chunk of bamboo.

  “Hunting for you,” Annie replies.

  “You… you didn’t tell him about Nic calling you?”

  For the first time, Annie’s fury fades. Just a little. She looks over her shoulder at us, an unreadable expression on her face.

  “Dude is getting way too close to Tanner,” she says. “He’s playing his own game.”

  “He’s always played his own game.”

  “Yeah, but this is different. That’s why I ditched my comms and my phone – I wanted to figure out what you were doing before we pulled him or Reggie in. And what are we doing, Teagan? Please explain this to me, because I’m having a real hard time figuring this out.”

  I lift an eyebrow at Nic. “Did you not tell her what we talked about? On the call?”

  “Oh, he did,” Annie says. “I just think it’s bull.”

  “Annie, look—”

  “No, you look. What are you trying to do here? Save this kid? After everything that’s happened? And you do it by ditching us? What if I hadn’t been here when this… this Zigzag guy showed up? You cannot put yourself in danger like that. You just plan on wandering around with him?” She jabs a finger at Leo, who flinches. “What exactly were you gonna do? After Nic came and got you?”

  Even Nic tries to interject now, but Annie brushes him aside. “I knew you were reckless, but I never thought you were stupid. This? This was some major stupid shit.”

  In the quiet that follows, the only sound is the running water in the channel.

  I want to be angry. I don’t like being yelled at. But I don’t like lying to myself either, and I would be if I pretended there wasn’t a tiny core of truth inside Annie’s words.

  “I just wanted…” Keep it together. “I just wanted some answers. Ever since the whole earthquake thing, we’ve known this threat is out there – that someone was making kids with abilities. I was tired of not knowing. I figured if I kept Leo safe… if I could get him to his dad…” I swallow. “They’ll lock him away you know. In Waco, where I was. Or someplace worse. The things they’ll do to him…”

  More uncomfortable silence.

  “Where were y’all going, anyway?” Annie asks.

  I explain about Compton, about where we think Leo’s dad is. Nic and Annie listen, stony-faced. When I finish, neither of them say anything for a long moment.

  Annie pinches the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes shut. “Compton.”

  “Yeah. It’s where his uncle lives. If his dad is anywhere, it’ll be there. And Annie, look… I know you’re angry, but I could really use your help. We cannot let this kid get taken by either Tanner, or whoever the hell this Zigzag Man is.”

  Above us, a gull calls, whirling in the late afternoon sky against the cloud. Despite the mugginess, a chill sneaks across my exposed skin.

  If Annie says no, I don’t know what I’m going to do.

  I have to believe that she’ll understand. Neither of us, after all, work for Tanner by choice. Well, kind of – I definitely don’t have a choice, and the only choice Annie has is working for Tanner, or trying to find a job that’ll employ ex-cons. That’s no choice at all. Maybe, just maybe, she’ll understand that it’s finally time to stop doing what Tanner wants us to. It’s not about us any more. It’s about Leo, and making sure he doesn’t suffer what I suffered.

  Please. You just want to know where he came from. Don’t pretend like you want to help him for no reward.

  I push the thoughts back, watching Annie.

  And eventually, after an age, she nods.

  The relief is unbelievable. “Thank you.”

  She scoffs. “If I don’t, you’ll just get yourself killed.”

  “Want me to bring my car around?” Nic says.

  “Nah, I don’t think so. Teagan – I’m assuming y’all got another phone? One Reggie can’t track?”

  “Um, yeah. Yes.”

  “Cool. OK. We’ll roll with that. Here’s what we’re gonna—”

  “Hold up.” I turn to Nic. If Annie’s here, then I don’t need to involve him. I owe him big time, but right now, I think the biggest favour I can do for him is to leave him out of it. This whole situation is already FUBAR, and the last thing I want is him hurt. He doesn’t deserve that, no matter what ugly things he may have said to me. “Nic, you should head out. Annie and I can—

  “Where’s the kid?” he says suddenly.

  He’s looking towards the water. Annie and I follow his gaze, and my blood goes cold.

  Leo is gone.

  TWENTY

  Teagan

  Nic takes off running, heading for the water.

  I would like it noted for the record that I, too, start running. The problem is, my legs are very short, and my addiction to salted caramel ice cream makes it hard for me to compete in a foot race. I am also… well, let’s go with not my best self right now.

  What I do have is a pair of lungs, and I make good use of them, screaming Leo’s name. He’s been taken, I’m sure of it – we should have seen it coming. The fucking Zigzag asshole circled back around, saw us arguing, took the opportunity. How could we be so stupid?

  Nic reaches the water, skidding to a halt. “Fuck.” He spits the word, clearly on the same wavelength as me.

  They can’t have gone far. This time, I’ll be ready. I’ll have my PK good to go, a few choice projectiles locked and loaded. Let’s see how he uses that cute illusion trick when I ram a concrete slab up his ass at a hundred miles an hour.

  At that moment, I spot Leo. He’s still limping, but he’s moving surprisingly fast, heading alongside the water. I cannot describe the relief – it’s like I’ve been walking in a desert, only for someone to dump a bucket of ice water on my head. Holy shit. He’s OK.

  Nic takes off, racing for Leo. This time, I don’t bother sprinting behind them. I don’t think I could, anyway. The relief has turned my legs to jelly. Jesus, where the hell is Annie?

  Leo must hear Nic behind him, because he turns around mid-stride. “Go away!” he yells, his little boy voice cutting through the night air.

  “Just stop for a second,” Nic shouts.

  “I said go—”

  I know what’s going to happen before it actually does. And there is no time to shout a warning.

  Kids are not very coordinated, and most four-year-olds don’t run well. The only reason Leo got so far away
is because we were too busy arguing, and despite his twitching leg, he’s built up a good head of speed. So when he half-turns, running on one good leg, right on the edge of the deep-running channel…

  His eyes actually meet mine as he falls. Just for a split-second. The look in them is one of total surprise.

  Then, with an enormous splash, he topples into the LA River.

  “No, no, no!” Nic sprints faster, reaching the spot where Leo fell.

  Leo’s head and two waving arms explode above the surface. He shrieks, hands flailing – and immediately goes under again.

  “Leo!” I shriek. I can use my PK – if there’s something to grab, I can lift him right out. But he’s panicking, and he might not know to hold on. I’m going to have to dive in after him—

  Nic gets there first. He kicks his shoes off in mid-run, doing an exaggerated knees-up manoeuvre. The left one doesn’t come off all the way, and he has to hop on one leg for a second or two while he yanks it away. Then he takes a leaping stride, and plunges into the water.

  It’s flowing fast. I hadn’t realised how fast. I can’t see Leo at all. Nic is already damn near fifty yards away, his muscular arms swinging through the air as he paddles.

  I claw at my dirty FBI windbreaker, hurling it to the ground. There’s actually nothing nearby for my PK to use, no handy pole or carelessly discarded life raft, so I’m going to have to swim for it.

  Annie grabs me by the arm, so suddenly that I nearly topple over backwards. I didn’t even realise she was there.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” she hisses.

  “Going in after him!”

  “Your man’s got him already.”

  “What?”

  Annie points. “There!”

  Nic is swimming across the current now, heading for the shore. He’s on his back, using one arm to paddle. His other holds a very small, very still figure.

  I shake off from Annie, start running again, ignoring her shouted warnings. She curses, sprints past me, reaching the shore just as Nic does. As I get there, she skids to her knees, reaching in and hauling him and Leo out of the water. They both flop onto the riverbank.

  And Leo…

  He’s alive.

  Gasping, coughing, sobbing, shivering… but alive.

  Jesus Christ.

  I sit down on the dirt. Hard. Hang my head.

  I am the worst kidnapper ever.

  Annie mutters something that I swear is Should have let the kid drown. I want to tell her to shut the fuck up, but I just don’t have the energy right now.

  Nic holds on tight to Leo, his big arms wrapped around him. “It’s OK,” he’s saying, over and over, rocking the boy back and forth. He gets to his feet, legs shaking, still holding Leo in his arms.

  “No, it’s not.” Leo’s leg and arm are still jerking. “She said we was gonna get my dad but the Zigzag Man came and she…”

  You want to feel helpless? You want to feel like a terrible human being? Look into the face of a child who realises you weren’t able to protect them.

  Nic pulls Leo into a huge hug, wrapping his arms around the crying boy.

  “Leo, right?” he says, after a few moments.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Well, that’s kind of weird.” Nic has an odd smile on his face.

  “Weird?” Leo looks suspicious, but he’s distracted now, his attention no longer on me.

  “Because that’s my name too. Well, my middle name. Nicolas Leonardo Delacorte.” He smiles. “Like the Ninja Turtle.”

  “And like the painter.”

  Nic makes an impressed face. “That’s right. Like the painter.”

  “I was named after him, but I don’t really like that stuff.”

  “Not sure I do either.” He gestures to me. “Give me your jacket.”

  I strip it off, handing it over, and Nic wraps it around Leo’s shivering shoulders. Above us, the clouds give out a gentle burp of thunder.

  “Hey, listen,” Nic says to Leo. He doesn’t put a hand on his shoulder or anything, just looks him right in the eyes. “You can’t run off like that. What if we hadn’t been there?”

  “I didn’t wanna fall in,” Leo mumbles.

  “Well, you kind of did.” Nic smirks. “Now I’m all wet too.” He gives an exaggerated shiver.

  “I have to find my dad.”

  “I know. But—”

  Leo looks at me. “But the Zigzag Man came, and he made her see stuff and she couldn’t do anything. I don’t like her.”

  OK, enough’s enough. I open my mouth to defend myself, but Annie stops me with a look.

  A half-smile plays around Nic’s mouth. “Yeah, well, I don’t like her much either.”

  “Um, hi?” I wave. “Standing right here, dude.”

  “I’m scared,” Leo says.

  “I know, my man.” Nic tells him. “I know. But right now, we can’t link up with your pops if we’re having to fight everybody.” He leans in. “It’s not just the… what did you call him? The Zigzag Man? With what you can do, there are a lot of other people who want to take you. They aren’t like bad, really, but they won’t want to find your dad. I can tell you that much.”

  Leo is still shivering, but he’s calmed right down. “OK.”

  Fine, I admit it: Nic is much better with kids than I am.

  Annie shakes her head, muttering something. The look on her face is one of utter disgust. I stare at her, my mind in turmoil – surely she didn’t want Leo to drown? No way she’s that cold.

  “If we’re gonna do this,” she says, resigned, “we gotta stay on the river.”

  I push back the ugly thoughts. “Wouldn’t a car be better?”

  “Not with Reggie watching the roads. She’ll have traffic cams up. Even if she doesn’t think to check for Nic’s ride, she might get lucky. I know she’s got some crazy facial recognition stuff.”

  A coldness sneaks into my stomach, squats there. I can’t bear talking about Reggie like she’s the enemy. It’s all kinds of wrong. But if Leo ends up on her radar, then he’ll be on Tanner’s. That can’t happen. I send a silent apology winging its way to her.

  “Plus,” Annie says, “they still haven’t shifted most of the debris from when that one skyscraper collapsed in Downtown. It’d take us hours just to get around it.”

  I roll the idea over in my head. “I don’t know. I don’t like the idea of staying on the river. Compton is far.”

  “Oh yeah. Like twenty miles. I’m not saying we have to walk it all, though. A car in the storm drain’s probably too conspicuous – people notice that kind of stuff, even now, and we couldn’t get one in here until we get to the paved part downriver anyway. But a couple of bikes might get us down there.”

  “I just—”

  “Don’t get me wrong, I think this whole thing is all kinds of messed up. But if we are really are gonna do this, then yeah, the river’s the best chance we got.”

  I bend over, hands on my knees. Annie’s right. And as much as she thinks I’m an idiot, she’s probably the best person to have with me right now. I didn’t think that way before, but…

  “Listen, Nic,” I say, picking up my thought from before Leo ran. “Thank you so much for coming. It…” I clear my throat. “I appreciate it. But you don’t have to stick around. We can take him from here.”

  Nic wavers, chewing his lower lip, then nods.

  “I’m gonna put you down for a sec, bud,” he says to Leo. But when he tries to do so, Leo won’t let him go.

  “I don’t wanna go if you’re, if you’re not here,” the boy says, his voice muffled by Nic’s shirt.

  “Come on, my man.” Nic says gently. Once again, he tries unsuccessfully to put him down.

  Leo holds on even tighter. “No-o-o-ooo.”

  There’s an awkward moment where Nic has actually let go of him, but Leo is still hanging off his neck. Nic gives me a helpless look, and I just shake my head. I don’t have the first clue what to do here.

  “I don’t want y
ou to go.” The despair in Leo’s voice is unbelievable – the kind of thing you should never hear from a child. “If the Zigzag Man comes back, or if… if…” His voice dissolves into sobs. The whole day, everything he’s been through, just spilling out of him.

  Nic can do nothing but hold him, stroking his hair and telling him it’s going to be OK. Even when it isn’t.

  I don’t know what to do here. I can’t make Nic stay – not after I gave him the OK to head on out. But if Leo won’t move without him, then we’re screwed. I can’t drag the boy to Compton, and I don’t know if we have time for me to sit around and argue with him.

  Something I may have mentioned already: Nic’s a decent dude. Whatever our issues, he’s fundamentally a good person. So when he looks at us and says, “Guess I’m sticking around,” I’m only a little bit surprised.

  “I got some snacks in the car, I think,” Nic continues. “Protein bars.” He gets to his feet. “We should stick together though. In case the Zigzag guy comes back.”

  “What’s a protein bar?” Leo says.

  Nic winks at him. “Like a boring chocolate bar. Come on – let’s get outta here.”

  TWENTY-ONE

  Teagan

  “I can feel the storm,” Leo says.

  It’s the first words he’s spoken since we started walking again. For half an hour now, we’ve been trudging in silence down the river. Nic and Leo in front – the boy won’t move more than a few feet away from Nic. Me in the middle. Annie somewhere in the rear. Now, Leo has stopped walking, squinting up at the low-hanging, heavy clouds. It’s around four o’clock.

  “Well, that’s not creepy at all,” I mutter.

  “We can see the clouds too, bud,” Nic says.

  “I mean like…” He hunts for the words. “It’s like, talking to me.”

  I stare at him. “The clouds are talking to you.”

  “Yes.” He gives me a solemn nod.

  “Can you…?” I hunt for the right words. “Can you control it? Control the lightning from here?”

  “Um… I dunno. Maybe.”

  “How about we leave that one alone for now?” Nic claps him on the shoulder, keeps walking.