Matt & Michelle 1: The Fugitive Heir

by Henry Vogel

  The door hissed and began opening when I was five meters away. Never has a door moved so slowly. I turned sideways and slipped through the partially open door. A hand snatched at my sleeve, but I pulled it free and ran to the right, just as Jonas instructed.

  Two of my pursuers slid through the door like I had, but the others piled up against the slow-moving barrier. At least I’d managed to put a few more meters between me and most of them.

  I dodged around a few people, all of whom shrank back as I passed. From their reactions, I guessed this kind of thing wasn’t as unusual to them as it was to me.

  I reached the escalator down to street level. The stairs were not moving, but I had never considered simply riding the thing down anyway. I hit the stairs and leapt down five steps. More people trudged down the stairs ahead of me, blocking my way.

  Leaping another five steps, I shouted, “Get out of the way!”

  Most of the people scooted to the right side of the motionless stairs without looking back, but one man refused to move. His shoulders stiffened at my shout, so he had heard me. I guess he was just tired of young punks ordering him around. I sympathized—I really did—but his stubborn reaction might get me killed.

  Thanking the education gods that gymnastics was still a sport taught in expensive private schools, I brought both feet together and jumped from three steps above the stubborn man. Tucking, I used the man’s shoulders as a vault. He shouted in surprise when I flipped from his shoulders. I unfolded from the tuck and prepared for a blind landing. You always land blind after a forward flip, but I could only guess how far I had to fall to reach the ground. I guessed wrong.

  My right ankle twisted beneath me as I hit the floor at the bottom of the escalator. I went limp and rolled, trying to save my ankle from a sprain or break. Pain blossomed from the ankle as I came to my feet. Ignoring the pain, I staggered toward the street just a few meters away.

  Shouts of alarm rang behind me as the gang chasing me shoved people out of their way. Limping as fast as I could, I risked a look behind me. The guys closest to me lay tangled among the people they’d barreled into while chasing me. The rest of the gang pounded down the other side of the escalator, people below them jumping out of their way.

  Hoping my ankle would hold for a few more seconds and hoping even more that Jonas’s associate was on time, I turned left and ran on. Pain lanced through my ankle with every pounding step I took. From the shouts and footsteps behind me, my lead over the gang was no more than five meters.

  Shouts of joyous rage rose behind me. “We got you now, punk!”

  Powerful repulsers whined behind me, drowning out the shouts. A green Jusair shot across my path and the passenger door flew open.

  “Matt, duck!”

  The voice was young and feminine and, somehow, familiar.

  I dropped and rolled toward the car. The second I was out of the way, a steady stream of blaster bolts flashed over my head. Cries of pain and fear broke from the gang on my heels. The firing stopped as suddenly as it started.

  “Get in but stay low!”

  I rose to a crouch and dove into the car. The driver put the car into a tight spin and I found my head laying in her lap, a bare midriff right before my eyes. My ankle throbbed and I had just escaped death by the skin of my teeth, yet my mind focused exclusively on the belly button mere centimeters before my nose.

  “Are you okay, Matt?”

  The familiar voice drew my attention from my navel gazing. I rolled my head and looked up. The soft glow from the dashboard lit blonde hair framing a very pretty and very familiar face.

  “Michelle?”

  “Yep. It looks like you’ve been busy since the semester ended.”

  I struggled to sit up, but Michelle just pushed my head down into her lap again. I really liked the view from her lap, so didn’t struggle.

  “Um, not that I’m complaining, Michelle, but what the hell are you doing here?”

  “Saving your ass, Matt.”

  “Yeah, and thanks. Seriously. But I was expecting one of my bodyguards, not someone from school.”

  Michelle laughed and patted my head. “Silly boy, I am one of your bodyguards.”

  “Since when?”

  “Since we first met, back in sixth grade.”

  Michelle checked her exterior view cams, either oblivious to the bombshell she’d just dropped or pretending to be.

  “Okay, you can sit up now.”

  My mind whirled through school memories before settling down on the day I’d met Michelle. Well, the day I first saw her, anyway. Every boy in our class fell in love with her the first day she came to our school. She wasn’t the prettiest girl in school—that title belonged to Jayna, with her best friend Brenda a close second—but Michelle didn’t act as if her looks made her some sort of royalty. You never felt Michelle was looking down her nose at you when she talked to you. Unlike many of the other guys in school, I never fell out of love with her.

  Michelle spoke again, interrupting my memories. “I said, you can sit up now, Matt.”

  “Oh! Sorry, Michelle.” I sat up. “I was… It’s just… You surprised me. I never knew I had a bodyguard in my school. Especially one as pretty as you.”

  Oh, crap, had I just said that out loud?

  “I mean, as young as you.”

  Michelle laughed and it was filled with good humor rather than the scorn I’d expected. She glanced at me, her blue eyes reflecting the same humor I heard in her laugh.

  “That’s very kind of you to say, Matt.”

  “Um, that you’re pretty? I know you’re not blind or stupid, Michelle. You’ve got to know that already.”

  “No, it’s not that, though it is charming the way you just blurted it out.”

  “Then I really don’t understand. Unless you think we’re not young.”

  Michelle patted my leg. “No, it’s that you never knew anyone was guarding you inside the school. It means I’ve done my job well.” Like flipping a switch, Michelle was suddenly all business. “And mentioning that job, I need to check in.”

  She touched a button on the dash and a vid screen sprang to life. Jonas looked out from the screen. His eyes flicked between Michelle and me.

  “You’re both safe and unharmed, Michelle?”

  “I think Matt turned his ankle running from the gang, but otherwise yes to both questions.”

  “Report.”

  With an economy of words our literature teacher would have admired, Michelle related her end of the pick-up. When she finished, I described what had happened after Jonas signed off and before Michelle arrived.

  “Now, Jonas, don’t you think you ought to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Yes, but not over the vid.”

  “Fine. Michelle can bring me home.”

  “Good. And we can have your ankle checked when you get here. Michelle-”

  “No, I should not bring Matt home. There are too many eyes and ears around. Have Matt come home with a girl and I can guarantee some servant will make a few credits selling that information to the newsies.”

  “Being known as Matt’s girlfriend would give you a good reason to be by Matt’s side at all times.”

  I liked the sound of that.

  “Maybe, but Matt should know everything we know before agreeing to something like that.”

  Jonas pondered for a moment. “Okay, what do you suggest we do?”

  “Meet us at Matt’s spaceship. It’s where he was going, anyway, and a sealed spaceship is about as safe from attacks and from eavesdroppers as anything we’re likely to find.”

  Jonas bestowed one of his rare smiles on the girl. “Good idea. I’ll be there in thirty minutes. Is there anything else?”

  “Yes. Call Mom and let her know I’ll be home late.”

  “Will do. See you in thirty.”

  “Bye, Daddy.”

  My eyes flicked back and forth between Michelle and the now-blank vid screen and my mouth dropped open.

  Miche
lle giggled, the business-like bodyguard replaced by a young college coed in the blink of an eye. She reached out and gently pushed my mouth shut.

  I blame my next statement on the unsettling events of the previous ten minutes.

  “How long has Jonas been your father?”

  That brought a long, loud laugh from Michelle.

  “All of my life, Matt. That’s usually how these things work.”

  I felt the blush rise up my face. God, how could I have said something so stupid to the girl I most wanted to impress?

  Michelle reached out to me again and gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “It’s okay, Matt. You’ve had a lot of shocks and surprises tonight. If you ask me, you’re holding up really well.”

  She steered into the docks and found a parking spot close to my ship. When we climbed out, she put an arm around me.

  “You’re just a guy showing off his spaceship to his new girl, okay?”

  I put my arm around Michelle and pulled her close. “Well, if you insist…”

  My recent few minutes of sheer terror were all worth it for that short walk to the spaceship. Okay, maybe not entirely worth it, but holding Michelle and feeling the sway of her hips against mine made up for a lot. Inside the spaceship, I actually did show it off to Michelle.

  Then Jonas arrived and my life changed forever.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The Revelation

  Michelle opened the airlock when Jonas arrived. My head of security smiled fondly and gave Michelle a peck on the forehead. She kissed his cheek in return. I found the simple, intimate gesture between father and daughter sweet, painfully so. More than a third of my life had passed since I’d had such a moment with my parents.

  Jonas eyed Michelle’s short, pleated skirt and bare midriff.

  “You wore that to a rescue, Michelle?”

  Michelle looked my way and rolled her eyes. “No, Daddy, I wore this to a club. Which you called me away from for this rescue.”

  “A club is worse! What kind of signals do you think that outfit sends in that setting?”

  “Maybe that I like to dance?”

  “Do you think that’s the only message the boys at the club picked up, pumpkin?”

  I watched and listened in fascination. I’d never seen this side of Jonas. Heck, I’d never even imagined it existed.

  “Daddy, I cannot help what a bunch of stuck up, trust fund boys think when they see me. Besides, I dressed conservatively compared to the other girls.” Michelle turned a grin my way. “You should have seen Jayna. She might as well have written ‘slut’ on her forehead.”

  “I don’t care what your friends wore, Michelle. The point is-”

  “Jayna is not my friend.”

  “The point is that you know you could get called into work at a moment’s notice—like you did tonight. Your clothes must reflect that reality.”

  Michelle pointed at her shoes, open-toed with flat heels. “I wore sensible shoes, Daddy. And I’ll bet you Matt’s inheritance that my legs have more range of motion in this skirt than yours do in any pair of pants you own.”

  I burst out laughing. “She’s got you there, Jonas. And you’ve got to admit she did a great job rescuing me.”

  Michelle bestowed a bright smile on me. “Thank you, Matt.”

  My words drew Jonas’s attention away from Michelle’s clothing and onto me. “You’re right on both counts, sir. Now, let me take a look at that ankle.”

  Jonas poked and prodded for a moment. “It’s not broken or sprained. I can give you something for the pain, but there’s no need for medical nanites. It will heal by morning.”

  I waved away the pain med he offered. “I’m worried about my life, Jonas, not my ankle. And I’m worried about Michelle’s life and your life and the lives of my other bodyguards. So, what’s going on?”

  Jonas rose to his feet and started pacing. Since her father needed the meager floor space in the lounge to pace, Michelle came to the couch where I was stretched out. I started to sit up.

  “Your ankle should stay elevated, Matt. Just lift your head for a second.”

  I did and Michelle slid onto the couch beneath my head. It was uncomfortable, holding my head up like that, but I didn’t say anything. Then Michelle put her hand on my forehead and pushed my head down onto her lap for the second time that night.

  Best. Night. Ever.

  “You’ve already figured out most of it, Matt. One of the major shareholders, probably a member of the board of directors, wants to stop you from liquidating those shares you’re set to inherit tomorrow. Your well-known tendency to slip away from your bodyguards’ protection gave them hope they could make your death look like random violence.”

  “What if I had just stayed holed up in the house until it was time to attend the inheritance appointment?”

  “I suspect the attack would have been much more public and much more obvious. And a lot more people would have been endangered.” Jonas stopped pacing. “It took me a couple of days to put all of this together, sir. Had you not slipped out of the house, I’d be having this discussion with you, your aunt, and your uncle right now. Drastic measures are called for, sir.”

  That put a damper on the best night ever, even when Michelle began stroking my head in sympathy.

  “So you’re saying I have to give up my dream of finding my parents and announce it to the public?”

  “That would be a start, sir, but I’m afraid it’s going to take more than that. To stave off attacks, I strongly recommend that you assign full control of all of your shares to your uncle or some other member of the board.”

  “Meaning I couldn’t vote or sell my shares.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “For how long?”

  “I suggest a minimum of seven years.”

  “And if I don’t make the announcement, I die and you and Michelle might get caught in the crossfire?”

  “I’m afraid so, sir.”

  “That is so not fair, Daddy!”

  “Life isn’t fair, pumpkin. You know that.”

  “Do it.” It came out as a harsh whisper.

  “Are you certain, sir? I admit I believe it is necessary, but should you choose otherwise I will abide by your decision.” Jonas’s eyes flicked to Michelle. “I will, of course, take the precaution of removing Michelle from your security detail.”

  I felt Michelle draw in a breath to protest her father’s pronouncement. “That won’t be necessary, Jonas. After all, it’s not like I really have any other choice.”

  Jonas sighed and shook his head. “No sir, you don’t. Let’s get you home and I’ll get the announcement out to the board and the newsies.”

  “Matt should stay clear of his home until the news is out, Daddy. After all, that’s where the assassins would expect to find him.”

  Jonas nodded his head slowly, agreeing with his daughter’s assessment. “Where do you suggest I take him, Michelle?”

  “Nowhere. Let him spend the night here. At least let him mourn the loss of his dream in the place where he’s most comfortable.”

  Jonas thought for a moment. “I suppose I could send for a couple of bodyguards.”

  “Matt already has a bodyguard here, Daddy. I’ll stay with him.”

  Jonas’ eyebrows climbed to his hairline. In other circumstances, I’d have laughed.

  “I’ve got this, Daddy.”

  Jonas’s fond smile returned. “I guess you do. Okay, pumpkin, I’ll call once it’s safe for Matt to come out.”

  Michelle let her father out and sealed the ship’s airlock. When she returned, Michelle slid back into her place on the couch, once again resting my head in her lap. She met my gaze and I saw her blue eyes were bright with unshed tears.

  “I can’t imagine what you must be feeling right now, Matt, but holding it in won’t help.”

  A single tear spilled from her right eye and rolled down her cheek. With that tear, the dam holding my emotions in check burst.

  I buried my head against
Michelle and sobbed.

  Sometime later, purged of tears and emotion, I fell quiet. Michelle stroked my hair, silently giving comfort and understanding. I wrapped my arms about her waist and gently squeezed, my cheek pressing into her soft stomach.

  “Goodbye, Mom. Goodbye, Dad.” My ragged whisper blew across Michelle’s skin.

  I rolled my head and looked up at Michelle. Tear tracks coursed down her cheeks and her eyes still shone with sympathy. She smiled and wiped her cheeks.

  “Do you feel better, Matt?”

  I took stock and realized I did. “Yes. Thanks for being here for me and thanks for understanding.”

  “It’s okay, Matt. It’s hard to give up a cherished belief after so long.”

  I shook my head. “It’s not a belief, Michelle, and I sure as hell am not giving up on it. I do not simply believe my parents are alive. I know it like I know your eyes are blue.”

  “I don’t understand how, Matt.” Her eyes widened. “Unless there was some kind of attempt to ransom them that no one knows about. Is that it? Has someone been holding them for over seven years, waiting for you to inherit your parents’ fortune so you could pay the ransom?”

  “No, there’s never been any attempt to collect a ransom. I’ve known my parents still lived from the first moment we learned they had disappeared. I will know it for as long as they live.”

  Michelle shook her head slowly. “That doesn’t make any sense, Matt. How could you possibly know something like that?”

  For nearly thirteen years—up until their disappearance—my parents drilled into me that I must never tell anyone this secret. Not even Aunt Tess or Uncle Gunther knew. But I wanted Michelle to understand my certainty. After seven years, I wanted to share my secret with someone. After seven years, I wanted to break my silence. But that meant breaking my word to my parents.

  My indecision must have been obvious. Michelle took my head between her hands and turned it so our eyes met.

  “You can trust me, Matt. Whatever your secret is, I will keep it.” She flashed a reassuring smile. “You never guessed I was one of your bodyguards, so you know I can keep secrets.”