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FALCON: Resistance (KBS Next Generation Book 1)

Page 22

by Victoria Danann


  “Yeah. That’s him alright. Thanks.”

  At Spaz’s door, Sin sent a text.

  SIN: I’m right outside.

  SPAZ: Clicking you in.

  Spaz used the remote that would unlock the door so that he didn’t have to get off the couch from which he was watching retro music videos on TV.

  “Glad to see you’re lying down like a good boy.”

  “I’m always a good boy,” Spaz said.

  Sin chuckled. “What can I get you to make this seem like it’s going by faster?”

  “Don’t need a thing.” Spaz muted the TV.

  “Look,” Sin started, “I haven’t really said, but you know I feel bad about this. Really bad.”

  “Skip the Dr. Phil, partner. Shit happens. It’s no big deal.”

  “So. You want one of those frozen yogurt things?”

  “That sounds great. So who’s filling in for me?”

  Sin turned to Spaz and smiled sheepishly. “You won’t believe it.”

  “Try me.”

  “Jax.”

  Spaz stared at Sin without moving his face for a full minute before saying, “Jax, the vampire.”

  “The very same.”

  “You’re right. I don’t believe it.”

  “And yet I speak the truth.”

  “Wow.”

  “That about sums it up. Turns out he’s not a bad sort.” Spaz started laughing. Sin got to his feet. “Stop that! I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to laugh like that.”

  “I’m starting to think maybe I’m not the one who got his brain sloshed around inside his head.”

  “I’m going to get your yogurt.”

  “Tell them extra bits of Reseys Peseys.”

  Sin nodded and waved. When he was at the door, he looked back as Spaz unmuted the eighties music videos. And that was when he realized what he could do to make himself feel better about being responsible for Spaz’s injury.

  After delivering a giant swirl yogurt with extra Reseys Peseys, he went to the infirmary and asked to see Dr. Reisgold.

  “You’re in luck,” Janelle told him. “He was just leaving for lunch.”

  Dr. Reisgold invited Sin into his office. “What can I do for you?”

  “I want to know how mobile Sir Chorszak can be.”

  “Not very. What did you have in mind?”

  “Could he go downstairs in a wheelchair? Sit up for a couple of hours?”

  “When?”

  “Sunday?”

  Reisgold pursed his lips. “I think that’d be okay.”

  Sin’s next stop was the Operations Office.

  “Hey.” Gretchen smiled. “What’s up?”

  “I need your help.”

  “That’s what I’m here for. What kind of help?”

  “Event planning?”

  Gretchen’s smile grew. “I LOVE event planning!”

  “Hoping you’d say that.”

  After Sin gave Gretchen the rundown on his thoughts, he felt confident that, if anybody could pull off an event in three days, she could do it.

  He left the O.O. smiling and stopped around the corner to make a phone call.

  “Hello?”

  “It’s Sin. I’m gonna ask for a favor.”

  Falcon acted like a bear whose honey had been stolen when Gretchen hit him with the double whammy. Not only was their Sunday being compromised by an ‘event’, but it turned out that the ‘event’ was the last thing in the world he’d like to do. Karaoke. But since it was in honor of his teammate, he had no choice.

  “Come on,” she said. “It’ll be fun! Just consider it part of our date.”

  Falcon rolled his eyes at that. He had to go, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t grumble about it. “What are you going to do to make it up to me?” He looked down at her trying to hide a smile.

  “What’d ya have in mind, big boy?”

  “If you could see what I have in my mind, you’d probably run.”

  She laughed. “You can help me get things ready on Sunday. I can use the help.”

  “Just gets better and better. Look. I’ve known Spaz for a long, long time. He’s worth some trouble, but not a lot of trouble.”

  “Stop it!” She smiled, knowing Falcon was teasing and that he’d be willing to do a whole hel of a lot more than karaoke for his teammates.

  Falcon had to admit that Gretchen was amazing. She had to time the event so that she could transform the Mess into a disco after lunch and have everything put back before dinner. She’d conscripted quite a few trainees to help and, of course, Falcon, Wakey, and Sin.

  Marguerite, the pastry chef, who also ran J.U.’s karaoke was giddy with excitement about doing an eighties event. She went over the song lists again and again with Gretchen, who had pressed the three ambulatory members of K Team for Spaz’s favorite songs.

  One of the minor miracles was that all of Jefferson Unit managed to keep it secret from Spaz. So much so that he had no idea what was going on when Sin showed up at his place with a wheelchair at two thirty on Sunday.

  Sin walked right past Spaz into the bedroom and kept going until he’d disappeared into the closet.

  “Hey! What’re you doing?”

  Sin didn’t answer. After a couple of minutes he emerged with a black tee shirt.

  “Here. Put this on.”

  “Why?”

  “Cause I’m taking you for a ride and the shirt you’re wearing has pizza sauce on it.”

  Spaz grabbed the hem of his shirt, pulled it over his head, and took the tee from Sin’s hand. “You gonna tell me what’s going on?”

  Sin grinned. “Nope.”

  “Is it a surprise?” Spaz’s brows drew together in a frown.

  “Maybe.”

  Spaz’s entire face lit up. “I LOVE SURPRISES!”

  Sin chuckled. “I know you do.”

  Spaz opened his mouth to talk as he pulled on the tee that was nondescript, but flattering as it conformed to his near-perfect upper body.

  Sin held up his hand. “It will do you no good to beg, press, coax, or cajole for more info. My lips are sealed. So park your gigantic ass in the cart and enjoy the mystery.”

  “Come on,” Spaz said as he sat down in the wheelchair. Sin released the brake then made a zipped shut gesture over his lips. “Okay. At least tell me if we’re leaving J.U. Not that I’d be complaining. Springing me free of my quarters is reason for celebration. Just curious though. Are we going out or staying in? I know you want to tell me.”

  Sin just chuckled.

  When the elevator pinged a signal that they’d reached the ground level and the doors opened, Spaz said,

  “You’re just being mean. Is this payback for that time that I…”

  Spaz stopped talking when he realized that he was sitting in the middle of a Hub that was abandoned. It was utterly quiet, void of activity. Not a soul in sight. Not a sound to give a clue.

  While he was trying to process the idea of a deserted Hub, Sin came around to the front of the wheelchair and said, “Yes. This is payback.” Spaz couldn’t read his partner’s expression. “This is payback for every single selfless thing you’ve ever done for me. It’s payback for being the best friend and partner anybody ever had. It’s payback for taking an injury, needlessly, to save my butt from being thrown out of Black Swan in disgrace for disobeying orders.”

  For once in his life Kellan Chorszak was speechless. Seeing his partner’s eyes get a little red around the rims while he went all sentimental was almost more than Spaz could take. Fortunately, he didn’t have to respond because, instead of waiting to see what Spaz would say, Sin made a phone call. When his party picked up, he simply said, “Incoming.”

  Sin began pushing Spaz toward the mess. The wheels glided over the marble floor with such ease and smoothness, Spaz might as well have been sitting in his own big TV chair.

  As they approached the Mess, Spaz could see that the big double doors were standing open. When they rounded the turn through the doorway and
Spaz came in sight, everybody except the Watch on duty was present, standing, and applauding.

  For the first time in his entire life, Kellan Chorszak blushed. He took it all in. The giant screen silently played the A-Ha video of “Take On Me”.

  Sin wheeled Spaz up to a round table set right in front of the temporary dais with five chairs in a semicircle. Before getting Spaz up to take his seat at the table, Sin wheeled him around to face his audience. Marguerite was there in an instant with a portable mic.

  “Sir Chorszak. Would you like to say a few words to your fans?”

  She put the mic in front of his face. Spaz looked around the room. Most of the women had taken the trouble to do big hair and shoulder pads. He was touched.

  “Hey,” he said with a grin. “How’d you know it’s my birthday?”

  Sin took the microphone. “It’s not your birthday, but it is your day.”

  He handed the mic back to Marguerite, who immediately went into entertainer-mode.

  Sin sat Spaz in the center chair so that he had the best seat in the house and sat down next to him on his right. Wakenmann sat to Sin’s right, winking at Spaz. Spaz held up a fist for a bump. “My man,” he said approvingly.

  Never one to be outdone, Wakey showed up in parachute pants, a studded leather jacket, and hair gelled straight up and to a point so that he resembled a Hershey’s kiss.

  Falcon sat to Spaz’s left and Gretchen took the end seat.

  Marguerite bounced around, energetically announcing that, “Here at Jefferson Unit, we’re all about respecting our elders, which is why we’re going to give the lead off honors to one of the old guys, Sir Chaos Caelian.”

  Everyone had sat down when Spaz had taken his chair, but they all got to their feet again to welcome Kay to the stage. Not a stranger to monthly karaoke nights, Kay felt comfortable with the microphone and delivered a fairly decent performance of "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by R.E.M. with background images of disaster movies, a la the original video.

  Falcon marveled at the production level Gretchen had achieved in three days. After getting people to commit to doing particular songs, being careful to include Spaz’s favorites so far as his teammates remembered, she and Marguerite had spent hours training a couple of kids to play the original song videos on the background screen when the songs were being sung karaoke-style.

  He leaned over and whispered, “You are a flash phenom miracle worker.”

  She giggled, liking the compliment almost as much as his warm breath in her ear.

  Spaz cheered and clapped and whistled for every performance like he’d just seen the original band perform it. And there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that it was the best karaoke bash ever staged at J.U.

  Halfway through the program, Ram and Elora sang “Human”. They had a distinct advantage as elves because musical talent was a racial trait. When Ram sang the opening lyric, “I’m only human,” everybody laughed.

  When the song was over, Rammel went back to his chair, but Elora stayed onstage. The screen changed from music video images to a still shot of Falcon, Wakey, and Spaz taken years earlier. Spaz, who loomed above his teammates, had looked like a scrawny little kid next to Kris Falcon and Rolfe Wakenmann.

  As Elora waited, a sound clip was played over the speaker system. It was Spaz’s young voice saying, “E.T’s at the middle ladder and the track gate. Watch out for a trio of civvies south of med. AND! Major cleanup needed right away on Aisle Three.”

  Elora lifted the microphone. “That was Sir Chorszak six years ago. Some of you were here during the attack on J.U. Faculty. Medical. Operations. You were probably bunkered when you heard those words. I was injured, slumped against a supply closet. The only other mature knights had trapped themselves so that they were no good to anybody.

  “I owe my life and Helm’s life to three young knights sitting in front of me. Kristoph Falcon, Rolfe Wakenmann, and Kellan Chorszak.” Always emotional and given to tears, Elora’s voice began to waver. “His on-the-fly code was almost too clever to be deciphered.” She smiled. “What you just heard was Chorszak letting us know that there were aliens at the central stairwell and the exit to the rugby field, three non-combat personnel close to the infirmary, and, well…”

  Elora wasn’t going to interpret the last part, but Wakey bounded up on the dais and took the microphone. Grinning he said, “Cleanup on Aisle Three means Wakenmann killed a guy then yanked his guts up.”

  As everybody laughed, he handed the mic back to Elora and trotted back to his seat.

  “Chorszak not only did what he could to keep the rest of us safe by watching the cameras from a secret location and announcing the whereabouts of intruders, he also tried to distract the aliens with a broadcast of hits from the eighties.”

  People laughed.

  “I remember the distinct moment when I said out loud, to no one in particular that, if we lived through the day, I was either going to kill that kid or give him a medal. Truthfully, Kay is the one to blame. He’d given the kids mandatory music appreciation of the eighties and Kellan had drunk the Koolaid by the gallon.”

  Spaz’s voice was heard again coming from the big speakers in the room. “All quiet on the Western end, nine, ten, a big fat hen. Repeat, nine, ten, big fat hen, and all is well in the west thanks to our sponsor, Helmets by Mom. Now this for your listening pleasure from the Spazmodoc…”

  That was followed by the opening notes of Wang Chung “Dance Hall Days”.

  Another clip of Spaz saying, “It’s the Spazmodoc, The Voice of the Fray, bringing you news of the shit storm from the bowels of J.U. Doing eighties on eight at eight minutes after the hour. Stay tuned right here to channel eight.”

  The next few seconds of airtime featured the BeeGees singing “Stayin’ Alive”.

  “I think we’re overdue recognizing the contribution that Sir Chorszak made to the Battle for J.U. So I’m bestowing my own medal of gratitude.” She smiled. “It’s good to be alive.”

  Rammel came up behind Spaz and draped a large medal around his neck with wide striped ribbon. Then he bent down and kissed Chorszak on the cheek. Spaz laughed and pushed Ram away, but immediately picked up the medal and looked at it like there was nothing more precious in the world.

  Elora handed the mic back to Marguerite who announced that Rolfe Wakenmann was next up hamming the life out of “Tainted Love”. He clowned it up until people were sliding out of their chairs laughing with tears in their eyes and holding their sides.

  Every now and then Falcon saw Sin turn to his partner with a look of consummate satisfaction, soaking up Spaz’s enjoyment as if it was his own. It seemed all too soon, Marguerite said, “That almost concludes our program. We have one last performance. Sir Harvest?”

  Sin went up on the dais and took the microphone. “No. I’m not going to sing.” Some people said, “Awwwww,” while others booed. He laughed and waited for the rowdies to quiet down. “Got something even better. Partner, this is something really special for you. From Jax and me.”

  The lights in the room went down. When the visual of Jax the vampire came up, knights looked around at each other. It was a fairly impressive video of Jax lip syncing “I Wear My Sunglasses At Night” shot mostly on New York streets late at night when a recent rain had left the city looking like a light-reflecting surface.

  When it was over, Spaz stood up and clapped. The rest of the room followed suit. Perhaps Sinclair Harvest’s only motivation was wanting to entertain his injured partner, but the video he shot of Jax the vampire solidified the relationship between vampire and hunters in a way that might not have been accomplished in years.

  In three minutes the knights learned that Jax was willing to enter into a self-deprecating skit for no reason other than to entertain. They also learned he had a sense of humor. That priceless information had far-reaching, optimistic implications for the future of cooperation between vampire and hunters.

  Just as people were preparing to leave so t
hat Gretchen and her trainee team could transform the Mess back to readiness for dinner, Glen came in and took the microphone.

  “Before you leave,” he began, “thought you’d all like to know that we have some good news for a change. The Edinburgh team has rid the city of nine hundred and sixty-three deadheads that were holed up in an abandoned Brooklyn theater.” An unrestrained cheer went up. When it got quiet again, Glen said, “The corpses will be removed and disposed of tonight under cover of darkness. Our workload just got a lot more bearable, people. With the help of Jax and Vlad, we may be on the way to turning things around.”

  People filed by K Team’s table at dinner to congratulate Spaz on his medal of gratitude and to share stories about some eighties song or other that they liked. It had been a long time since they’d had something to celebrate and the change in mood was more than welcome. Everybody was reveling in the hopeful atmosphere.

  When Falcon was preparing to leave with Gretchen after dinner, he saw Sin mouth, “Thank you,” to her. Gretchen tucked her chin, smiled, and nodded while Falcon’s heart swelled with pride and… other feelings that he was not yet ready to name.

  As soon as they left the Mess, Gretchen crashed and started yawning.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I haven’t had much sleep for the past three days.”

  “I can’t imagine why,” Falcon said drily.

  “I know I promised that…”

  “I’m way ahead of you. Let’s go to your place and watch a movie.”

  She smiled with gratitude. “Really? That would be so perfect.”

  There was little Falcon couldn’t be persuaded to do by that smile.

  When they got to her place, she said, “I’m going to take these heels and shoulder pads off. You get to pick the movie and make the popcorn. It’s in the cabinet next to the microwave.”

 

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