Mark checked his watch again, and his husband noticed. “Still haven’t heard from Tim and Aren?” John asked.
Quinn shook his head. “No, and it’s kind of strange, actually.” He pulled out his phone, but he hadn’t received any new texts. He thumbed a quick message to his dads once more and pocketed his phone.
Over the course of the next few minutes, his uncles introduced them to some of their fellow elite among the Portsmouth crowd and they made small talk about the weather and the sad loss of the Naval prison. Since no one realized he was Blue Spekter, he could join in the sadness over the destroyed landmark.
A few minutes later, it was Keegan’s turn to check his watch.
“Something’s wrong. They should be texting back.” Quinn pulled out his phone and dialed Daddio. The call went straight to voicemail.
That’s weird.
He dialed Dad and the call went to voicemail as well.
Huh, could they be out of service? Could both of their batteries be dead? Could both their phones be turned off?
Keegan looked at him. “Nothing?”
“My dads still aren’t answering my calls,” Quinn replied, shaking his head.
“Don’t you have that location thing turned on with your dads’ cell phones?” Keegan asked.
“Oh, that’s right!” Quinn exclaimed. “They can track me, and I can track them.” He switched to the Find My Friends app and waited a few moments for the app to acquire and locate his fathers’ phones’ GPS signals. Thirty seconds later, the app reported an odd message: last known location. The icons for his dads’ locations indicated his house.
Quinn showed his phone to Keegan, Mark, and Jon. They frowned when they saw the unusual message. “That doesn’t make sense, it says my dads’ last known location was at home and that was a couple hours ago.”
John looked at him with confusion. “Didn’t you get ready at home?”
Quinn shook his head and jerked a thumb at Keegan. “No, we got ready together at his house and he drove us here.”
“Aww, how romantic,” Mark said.
Keegan chuckled. “We try.”
Quinn felt a sinking feeling in his gut. My dads don’t go off the grid like that. I can understand one of their phones running out of power, but both of them?
A staff person came around and announced their seating for dinner.
“Well, shall we?” John asked.
Quinn shrugged. “I guess we should start, I just wish I knew where they were.”
“If we miss our chance because your dads aren’t here, it could mean another hour before they give us a new seating.”
Quinn nodded. “I understand. Let’s eat.” I can tell you guys don’t want to wait.
“I’m sure they’ll be here,” Mark said. “Let’s put Murphy’s Law to the test. The minute we sit down and start eating, they’ll show up. Maybe traffic is bad and they had a hard time parking.”
Keegan nodded in agreement. “The parking lot is really full, Quinn. Even we had a hard time parking tonight.”
“You’re right,” Quinn said. “Let’s go eat. I am famished.” That doesn’t explain my inability to track their phones.
A few minutes later, waiters brought appetizers to their table and they started eating. When Quinn finished his appetizer, he discreetly called his parents but both their phones redirected his call to voicemail again.
What the hell? This makes no sense. How do I politely excuse myself and go check on the house? I know…
Quinn wiped his lips with his napkin, folded it, and set it on the table next to his plate. “I’ll be right back, I need to use the restroom.” He stepped away and walked toward the lobby of the hotel. He thumbed a quick text to Keegan, telling him he planned to fly home really quick to check on the house.
❖
Quinn flew the short distance home and landed in the driveway. He didn’t care if anyone saw him because he was too concerned about his parents’ whereabouts. He punched in the code on the garage door keypad and waited impatiently as the door rumbled open. Both cars were parked inside. He walked forward and placed his hands on the hoods of the cars and sensed the metal was cold.
So you haven’t driven anywhere recently…
He let himself in the house and called for his dads.
Maybe they had changed their minds about dinner and decided to have an intimate evening at home…something I don’t want to walk in on.
He loudly called out for them several times, but the house remained quiet. He checked his fathers’ bedroom, but it was empty.
This is so weird, where the hell are they?
He searched the obvious places for his parents’ cell phones, but he couldn’t find those either. Double-checking his dad’s office, he saw his father’s laptop sitting in his open briefcase on the desk chair he usually set it on when he got home from work. Next, he walked into the kitchen and double-checked the stove and the counter. There was no meal prep in progress.
Why would there be? They’re supposed to be at the restaurant with me.
Quinn’s phone vibrated in his pocket. It was a text from Keegan: Hurry up, they’re about to serve the main course.
Quinn sighed. On a whim, he ran down to the basement to eliminate the nagging fear of a horror movie playing itself out, but the basement was untouched. Frustrated, he let himself out of the house. After closing the garage door behind him, he launched into the air and flew back to the Wentworth by the Sea.
❖
He landed discreetly in the quiet parking lot and then jogged back into the lobby and walked to the restaurant. He took his seat as the waiter served well-presented plates with filet mignons and an assortment of side dishes.
“Everything okay?” Mark asked. ‘You were gone a while.”
Make something up. Quinn smiled awkwardly. “Yeah, um, something I ate for lunch didn’t agree with me. I feel a lot better now.”
Mark chuckled and John smiled. “Well, good, there’s a delicious piece of beef awaiting your consumption.”
Keegan looked at Quinn and without saying anything, Quinn understood the question his boyfriend’s eyes asked.
Quinn leaned over and gave him a kiss that would serve as an excuse to answer the unspoken question.
“Nothing,” Quinn whispered.
Keegan furled his eyebrow briefly and then picked up his knife and cut into his filet mignon. “Oh my gosh, these are perfectly cooked.”
“They should be, at the price we’re paying,” John quipped.
Around them, a few of the guests became rowdy and appeared to be intoxicated.
That’s weird, these are Portsmouth’s finest. Why would they get shit-faced here? They’re usually so concerned with their reputations.
“Indeed they are delicious!” John said loudly, savoring a mouthful of bacon and Brussels sprouts with his filet mignon. “Wee!” he shouted, then giggled.
What the hell? Are you drunk, too?
As they ate dinner, even Mark and Jon seemed uncomfortable with Tim and Aaron’s unexpected absence.
“Gee, I hope everything is okay,” Mark said. Then he rubbed his head like he had a pounding headache.
“Me too,” Quinn said. He pulled out his phone again and redialed Daddio’s phone.
A moment later, he disconnected the call and set the phone on the table. “It’s still going to voicemail.”
Quinn looked at Keegan, who lazily chewed another piece of steak, but looked pale.
“Are you okay, babe?”
Keegan shrugged. “I feel funny, like silly and confused at the same time. It’s weird. Also, I’m starting to get a headache.”
Quinn looked around the lavish dining room as guests and waitstaff alike seemed out of sorts. I feel fine.
A moment later, his cell phone vibrated on the table.
Finally! He grabbed it, thinking his dads had responded. Instead, a text message notification from Lieutenant Doral appeared on the screen. Quinn swiped and opened it: Something is wrong in Po
rtsmouth. Police reporting unusual behavior and symptoms themselves. Might need you tonight. Sorry.
Quinn texted back his location and summarized what he saw around the restaurant, but included that he felt fine.
A moment later, Blake texted him: Is there a full moon tonight? Bitches be cray-cray tonight.
He texted back: Come to SALT.
Someone on the other side of the restaurant threw up, setting off a chain reaction of vomit and sickness in the restaurant.
Keegan dry heaved, then clutched his mouth with his hand. “Oh gawd, I can’t handle vomit.”
If it’s happening all over Portsmouth, it’s not food poisoning at the restaurant.
Another text from Lieutenant Doral appeared: Car accidents reported everywhere in the area. Police unable to respond as they are compromised. I feel awful as well. Can you do anything? I fear the city is in your hands. Already texted Catamount.
Quinn thumbed a message back: I will do my best.
Well, shoot.
He stood and grabbed Keegan’s face with his hands. He looked into his boyfriend’s eyes and hoped he could glean a moment of focus. “I need to go figure out what’s going on. I may not be back.”
Keegan looked into Quinn’s eyes. Quinn’s heart dropped as he saw pleading in his boyfriend’s face. “Whatever it is, make it stop. I feel crazy, like there are voices screaming at me to do things in my head. On top of that, all I wanna do is vomit.”
Keegan dry heaved, and Quinn let him go. “I love you.” Then, Quinn jogged out of the restaurant. Around him, patrons and hotel staff struggled to stand while others hung onto the floor for dear life, like they were inebriated and the world was spinning uncontrollably. A few people seemed outrageously angry and ready to fight while others seemed paralyzed or helpless. When he ran out of the hotel, he immediately sensed something different in the air. It was energized; charged.
Holy crap, the orgone concentration in the air right now is ridiculously high.
A moment later, he detected Ana Maria flying nearby. He sensed her divert her course and fly toward him. As she landed, he sensed Blake flying toward him as well. A moment later, the three superhumans stood in the front lobby of the hotel and watched the chaos unfold around them.
“You guys feel fine?” Blake asked.
“Completely,” Ana Maria replied. “In fact, with the orgone infusion in the air right now, I feel great.”
“Me too,” Quinn responded. “Clearly you’re okay, too,” he said looking at Blake.
Blake nodded. “Yeah, I was walking downtown and checking out the First Night sculptures when people started acting crazy.”
“This has to be Victor,” Ana Maria sad. “There’s no one else who could saturate the air with orgone like this.”
“Oh my gosh,” Blake responded, slapping the side of his face with his left hand with urgent realization. “This is that super weapon thing they talked about.”
“What?” Quinn asked.
“Victor talked about the ability to use the Cloudbusters for purposes other than weather modification. When I started working for him, he talked about targeting specific locations to weaken or confuse military groups, so I could go in and eliminate whoever the enemy target was. I think he switched that system on and targeted Portsmouth.”
“So, who is he trying to eliminate?” Quinn asked.
Blake shrugged.
“Anyone he considers a threat, if the logic still holds.” Ana Maria replied.
“Well, that would not be us because we are unaffected, and he doesn’t know you recovered yet,” Quinn said, pointing to Blake.
We should do something to help these people, but what?
“Maybe he’s going after the human element of the Guardians,” Ana Maria suggested. “Perhaps he’s targeted Pease but the weapon’s focus or refinement has a much wider area of effect.”
That would make sense, except no one’s at Pease tonight…I think everyone is out celebrating. Maybe David is working? Maybe Victor is sick and tired of The Order’s computer systems getting hacked? Man, this is weird. Speaking of weird…my dads.
“You know, there’s something else weird tonight,” Quinn said.
“What’s that?” Blake asked.
“My dads up and disappeared. Every time I call them, it goes straight to voicemail. When I use Find My Friends, it only shows me the last known location of their phones, which was my house. It’s like their phones are turned off or out of signal.”
Blake shook his head. “That’s not how it works. If they were out of service right now, the last known location before the cell or wifi signals dropped off would be the edge of the service area. Or, if phones were powered off at your dad’s house, that could trigger the house as a last known location. Hey, should we go check the house really quick?”
Quinn shook his head. “I already did, they’re not home. Their cars are in the garage, but their phones aren’t there either.”
Ana Maria’s face became serious. “Boys, Victor is retaliating. When Blake kidnapped Keegan, Blake knew your weakness is your heart; that’s how to get to you. Victor also knows how to get to you. But, since you were with Keegan, I fear Victor went after your dads instead.”
Quinn’s heart sank to his toes and he felt nauseous, but it wasn’t from whatever was going on around them. “Oh crap.” His emotions churned and tears formed in his eyes. Ron was right, the people I love will be in danger.
“We will find them,” Ana Maria said.
“I bet he took them to Androscoggin because that’s where we grabbed Dr. Madison from.”
“Doubtful,” Ana Maria replied. “Unless he wants you to find them, but I don’t think he’s playing that simple a game. We may need the team to locate the facility where your dads may be imprisoned.
Ugh, imprisoned?
“Except the team can’t do a damn thing right now because they’re all susceptible to whatever is going on in the area,” Quinn said.
Blake shook his head. “Unless they’re in the underground base. I assume people under Hangar 227 are not affected. They should be shielded from the weaponized orgone energy’s effects.”
“It’s New Year’s Eve, I’m sure they took the night off,” Quinn replied with frustration.
“A well-calculated retaliation,” Ana Maria mused.
“So what do we do? We can’t stand in the hotel lobby all night,” Blake asked.
“I say we check the reactor core at the naval prison to make sure it’s not active,” Quinn suggested.
“Then what?” Blake asked.
“I don’t know, we’ll think of something along the way.”
The three superheroes walked out of the lobby, took off, and flew the short distance over the river to the destroyed naval prison. They circled it from above, but the facility remained unlit and Quinn didn’t sense anything unusual from the reactor.
“It’s still powered down,” Quinn shouted. “This isn’t creating the problem.”
“I concur,” Ana Maria said.
The sounds of car accidents and screaming people filled the air over Portsmouth. “Come on, let’s go see what’s going on downtown.”
The trio flew back over the river to the famous white steeple of North Church in Market Square where First Night activities had been suspended. Below them, a calamity of First Night attendees rolled on the ground in sickness, fought one another, or behaved like mindless zombies from a scene out of a scary movie.
Along with civilians, Quinn could see the police monitoring First Night activities were incapacitated as well. Holy crap, Lieutenant Doral was right. It’s up to us to figure out what’s going on and save the city. How do you save a city from something you can’t fight?
Blake flew over to a set of antennas mounted on top of the Breaking New Grounds building. Quinn watched his best friend place his hands on the miniaturized versions of the Cloudbusters he had seen up in Rangeley.
“Anything?” Quinn asked as they landed on the roof of the building.<
br />
Blake dropped his hands and shook his head. “They’re cold. I don’t think Victor is attacking the city from Portsmouth. He’s using another facility to target this area.”
“But why?”
“To get your attention,” Ana Maria replied. “If I’m right and he has kidnapped your parents, he’s using the weapon to confuse and intimidate you.”
“Or to draw you out,” Blake added.
“From where? There are no other superhumans around here. Do you sense any?”
Blake and Ana Maria shook their heads, and then Ana Maria’s words echoed in his head. When Blake kidnapped Keegan, Blake knew my weakness is my heart; that’s how to get to me.
“Keegan!” he shouted. With a running jump, he launched himself into the air and went supersonic before clearing the city. Somewhere behind him, glass shattered, but he didn’t care. Blake and Ana Maria followed, but they were slower than he was.
He rapidly descended and landed in front of the Wentworth by the Sea hotel. He ran into the building and dashed through the lobby to their table in the SALT dining room. Most of the guests were passed out or green with sickness. Keegan was nowhere to be found, but his cell phone was on the table.
Blake and Ana Maria ran up to the table.
“He’s not here, find him!” Quinn shouted. His insides churned with emotion and he toppled forward, bracing himself on the table, realizing his worst nightmare had come to pass. Victor had taken his dads and Keegan; the three people he loved most. Even though he tried to destroy Seavey Island the other night, I think he would have taken Blake back if he could have. Then, he would have had the four most important people in my life…the perfect weapons to use against me.
He fell back into his dinner chair and started crying. Blake and Ana Maria rushed up to him, and Blake spoke first. “He’s not in the bathrooms.”
“I didn’t see him on this floor, either,” Ana Maria said.
“Wait, is that his cell phone? There’s a note under it,” Blake said.
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