by Black, Chuck
“I’m sorry, Master Lee. I was helping a friend,” he said with a bow. Extreme politeness and humility were the only way to win Mr. Lee over.
“Awck!” Mr. Lee waved his hand in the air. “Deliver orders now!”
“Mr. Lee, I must tell you that this is my last week. I have to take care of some other business.”
“You can’t quit. I need you to deliver orders.”
“But you were just going to fire me,” Drew said with smile.
“That different. You still owe me for lessons. You no quit,” he said with a nod.
Drew stepped close to Mr. Lee. “I owe you much, Mr. Lee. Thank you.” He bowed again.
When he straightened, Mr. Lee was Master Lee for a moment. “The honor was mine, Mr. Ryan.” He bowed his head. “When you leave, you be careful.”
Drew found it difficult to finish the day out for Mr. Lee, as his thoughts kept returning to the plan to re-create the LASOK. It felt so good to know that Ben was alive and safe. He almost called Sydney but decided to wait until Friday when he would see her at Emmanuel.
OVER THE NEXT COUPLE of days, Drew began making plans for his entrance into the exchange. He made a couple of trips out to Ben to keep him updated as well. On Friday at the church, he worked beside Sydney, serving the homeless.
“I found him!” Drew whispered into Sydney’s ear as she served a bowl of soup.
“What? Really? How is he?”
Drew scanned the room and handed her another empty bowl.
“He’s fine. They were zeroing in on him though, so I had to help him disappear again. You saved his life, Sydney. He said to say thanks.”
Sydney handed the filled bowl to an old man with no teeth, then set the ladle down and turned to look at Drew.
“I am so happy, Drew.” She reached up and hugged him.
“Oh man!” The cry of disgust came from behind them. “I hope you aren’t gonna start kissing now.”
“Hey, Micah, you know me better than that. Besides, Sydney would never let that happen.” Drew winked her way.
“Good!” Micah turned to deliver a plate of rolls to the end of the counter.
Later in the chapel, Drew explained to Sydney the plan he and Ben had formulated … without the details of the invaders.
“You actually saw these guys come after him? How did you get him away?”
“It’s a long story that I can tell you later. The important thing is that we have a plan to re-create the LASOK. We have to do it in secrecy. I may need some help from you, Syd.”
“As long as it’s legal, I’m in.”
“What if the FBI is involved in trying to cover up Dr. Waseem’s death? What if the government is trying to steal his research?”
Sydney fell silent for a moment. “Are you asking me this because what you’re going to do is illegal?”
Drew held up his hands. “No. That’s not why I’m asking you this. But when does ‘right’ supersede ‘legal’? If there is a connection between those who are trying to cover up Dr. Waseem’s death and now trying to kill Ben, and the FBI, how far would you go for the truth?”
Sydney’s gaze fell to the floor. Her sadness was hard for him to see, but she needed to know what she might be getting into.
“I don’t know, Drew. I’ll need to rely on the Lord for wisdom when the time comes.” She gave a confident nod. “Rebuilding the LASOK sounds expensive. How are you going to fund it? Dr. Waseem had the university and grants. I don’t think delivering Korean takeout is going to get you very far.”
“You’re right. I think I can build some capital by investing in the exchange. But I’m going to need to lease a membership, cover some fees, and have some seed money for my first investment.”
“How much will that all cost, and how much do you have?”
“It’s going to take about six thousand to get us started. Ben had three thousand saved, but we don’t dare touch it—they’ll be watching his account. I have about eighteen hundred.”
He considered sending her to Rivercrest to get some cash from Jake, but there was no way of knowing if an invader might be watching his home and follow her back.
Sydney was lost in contemplation. “I’ve got thirty-five hundred you can have.”
“No, Sydney, I can’t take your money. Playing the mercantile exchange is almost like gambling. It’s too risky, and I know you need that money for college.”
Sydney reached out and touched his arm. “You need this, and I can take out another student loan in the meantime. Besides, what I’m giving you is just a loan, and I charge high interest. I expect full payment back.”
Drew thought for moment. The deposit and first-month’s rent for Ben’s apartment took a good chunk of his funds, and he simply didn’t have access to any other money.
“Are you sure about this?” He looked deep into her eyes for any sign of hesitation.
“Yes. Where and when should we meet so I can give you the money?”
“Tomorrow I’m going to try and recover Ben’s notes and computers and get them to him. How would you feel about being a lookout when I go in?”
“I can do that. I’ll bring the money at nine o’clock and pick you up then.”
“It’s a date.” Drew allowed a sly grin.
She smiled back. “No, it’s not.”
They stood up to leave.
“Syd, it could be dangerous tomorrow.”
“I know.” She said it without batting an eye, then walked out the door.
26
A SECOND CHANCE
Drew and Sydney drove around Ben’s apartment building numerous times, then watched from a safe distance for over an hour. When Drew didn’t see any invader activity, he left Sydney waiting in the car and walked into the building. His senses were peaked. He hated taking this risk, but Ben was convinced it was necessary.
Ben’s apartment was on the third floor of the six-story building. Drew felt in his pocket for the key that Ben had given him, but when he went to insert it in the lock, the door was already open. The hair on the back of his neck stood straight. He stepped inside. It was a simple one bedroom with a kitchenette and a living room to his left. A narrow hallway led to the bedroom on his right, where the door was open just a crack.
Drew took silent steps down the hallway and peered in through the small slit between the door and the frame. His stomach rose into his throat when he saw a dark invader inside. He froze. This close, even the slightest of movements would give him away. Drew swallowed and wondered if even that might be too loud. He dared to continue watching, for the invader was turned away from the doorway so that Drew could see his back, his left shoulder, and a portion of the left side of his face. The invader was bent over and looking at Ben’s notebook on the desk just below the window against the far wall. Although the notebook was closed, the invader fingered the book so that its pages turned, but they were pages that existed only in the invader realm. The actual notebook remained closed and lying still on the desk.
The invader seemed to read everything he saw in mere seconds, and when he reached the end of the book, he lifted his hand and the pages dissolved away. He stood straight and turned just enough so that Drew could see the rest of his face. That’s when Drew regretted allowing Ben to convince him to come here.
It was Kurgan.
He scowled as he scanned the room. Drew pulled back just enough so that he wouldn’t be seen when the dark invader’s gaze passed by. He didn’t dare step back. After five long seconds, he peered back into the room just in time to see two more dark invaders falling through the ceiling to stand at attention before Kurgan. He barked out orders and pointed out to the street below.
Was it Sydney? Had they found her? This escapade was transforming into a nightmare. Just as Drew was about to attempt to retreat, the two dark invaders fell through the floor and Kurgan jumped up through the ceiling.
Drew scanned behind him, then opened the door to the bedroom and bolted inside. He grabbed the notebook on the desk, plus th
e two that were in a drawer below and stuffed them into his backpack. He looked for Ben’s laptop, but it was gone. The server sat humming on the floor, a deep-blue light glowing from the top. Drew unplugged it and yanked it out from beside the desk. He pressed the button to open the case and then took a quick scan around the room, his heart racing. He located the three hard drives and unplugged the power and SATA cables to each, then dismounted them from the drive racks. He shoved them into the backpack and zipped it closed.
After stepping quickly to the door, Drew looked down the hallway to the kitchen area. Clear. Every second that ticked by this close to Kurgan could mean the end of everything. He struggled to keep calm and think straight. Drew ran to the door of the apartment and scanned down the hallway. The stairwell was at the far end. Just as Drew started to step out, he saw Kurgan fall through the hallway ceiling and land twenty feet away, sword drawn and battle on his face.
Drew jerked back. He was trapped! He turned and nearly collapsed from fear, for toe to toe with him was a light invader, sword drawn and ready. He looked angry and concerned. His eyes were the same eyes of the cab driver earlier that week. He pointed to the bedroom and spoke. Although Drew heard nothing, he knew what the invader said.
“Get out!” The silent words were powerful … frightening … final.
Drew ran to the bedroom and shut the door. As if that would stop them.
He went to the window, opened it, and looked down. Just below him was a small metal and concrete balcony for an apartment on the second floor. He slipped his other arm through the backpack strap and stepped out onto the ledge. He fell eight feet to the floor of the balcony, smacking his shin on the barbecue grill near the wall. He then straddled the railing and knelt down to hang onto two of the black iron spindles. He dropped the three feet to the ground and dodged to the back of the apartment building, hoping against hope that he had not been seen. He sprinted down the alley, making his way back to Sydney’s car. When he came up from the opposite direction he had left and opened the car door, Sydney jumped.
“Good grief, Drew, you scared me to dea—” She stopped when she saw his face. “What happened?”
Drew couldn’t take his eyes off the apartment building. “Let’s go. Head south quickly!”
Sydney pulled into the street, and Drew turned to look over the seat, out the rear window. Dread filled his heart. He saw the light invader falling backward out from the wall of Ben’s apartment. Kurgan burst through the wall after him, a two-handed grip on the handle of his sword, which was raised above his head, its razor-edged tip plummeting downward toward the falling light invader.
“No!” Drew couldn’t hold back the cry as the light invader smashed into the pavement below. Just fractions of a second later, Kurgan’s blade, with all of the invader’s weight and the force of a three-story fall, pierced the light invader, clear to the hilt. Kurgan landed on one foot and one knee beside the light invader’s body. He seemed to relish the few seconds of agonizing pain the light invader felt before his body dissolved into a vapor and floated upward.
The terror of the encounter left Drew’s eyes watery.
Sydney touched his arm. “Are you okay? I didn’t see anything or anyone. What happened?”
Drew couldn’t speak. He just shook his head and looked at the backpack at his feet.
“It had better be worth it, Ben,” he said softly, then bit his lip and closed his eyes as his mind unwillingly replayed what he had just seen. For the rest of the drive, other than giving Sydney a few directions, he sat in silence and stared out the window, mourning the death of a good invader who had sacrificed his life to save Drew.
Thirty-five minutes later, Drew and Sydney pulled into the parking lot at Ben’s new apartment. Still numb, Drew forced himself to scan the premises before entering the building and climbing the stairs to the second floor.
“Did you get it?” Ben asked at the door before they had even stepped inside.
Drew held the backpack out.
Ben unzipped the bag as Drew and Sydney walked through the door.
“You’re my hero, man, my Captain America!”
Drew just walked over to the living room window and stared out.
“Hey, Sydney, good to see you.”
“Hi, Ben. Glad to see you’re okay.”
Ben looked from Drew to Sydney. “What’s up with him?”
“I don’t know. Something happened back there, but he won’t tell me.”
“Oh.”
Sydney and Ben talked a few minutes, but soon Ben was lost in his notebooks, reviewing every little detail from the first to the last page of each. Sydney came to stand beside Drew and stare out the window with him. “Did somebody get hurt back there?”
Drew nodded.
“Are you in trouble?”
“No. He was trying to help me. An agent took him out.”
Sydney covered her mouth. “Drew, you have to tell someone. If people are dying, this is getting too serious … too deep.”
Drew turned and looked at Sydney. “People dying is what started this in the first place.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to make his death count for something.” Drew turned and looked at Ben. “I need a complete ID set for Ryan Cooper. Enough to get me a bank account and a membership on the mercantile exchange.”
“I can have it by Wednesday,” Ben said without looking up from his notes. “Have you got the money you need?”
Drew looked down at Sydney, and she nodded. “Yeah, we have enough to get a start.”
“Good. The first thing I’m going to need is a computer to access these hard drives,” Ben said.
After a couple of hours discussing the details of their plan, Drew and Sydney drove back to Chicago. When they pulled up to Drew’s apartment, Drew hesitated.
“If you want out, now’s the time, Sydney. I don’t know how bad it’s going to get.”
“I’m okay.” She touched his arm. “Are you?”
Drew reached for the door handle. “I will be. The less contact you have with me, the safer you’ll be.” He sounded cold, and she looked hurt. He softened his tone and forced a smile. “Thanks … thanks for everything.”
She nodded and he left.
DREW DEVOTED THE FIRST part of the week studying up on the exchange, learning the outcry hand signals, and reviewing stock prices for recent past trades. He spent hours reading market reports, bulletins, and articles on managing risk at the exchange. He refreshed his knowledge of chart patterns and saw nuances in the data that he had never seen before. He practiced on historical prices and was able to predict buy and sell points that would return four and five times the investment. However, his plan was to ease into the market carefully, with very little risk, to prove to himself that his new abilities to analyze and predict price moves were not ill placed.
It was good timing for Drew to lie low anyway, knowing that the invaders would be looking for anything that would lead them to Ben.
Wednesday afternoon, Drew picked up his ID set from Ben and opened an account at the CME, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and was able to lease a membership to operate as a floor trader for two thousand dollars. Thursday, Drew spent the entire day on the floor watching, learning, and running his own mock investments. There were times he stood in the middle of the pit and felt the exchange breathing around him. He could see the trends in the markets as well as he could see bullets flying from a gun. It was uncanny.
He restrained himself from trading for one week, looking for just the right buy at just the right time. His first trade was for soybeans, and he turned a seven-hundred-dollar profit. The next day that he traded, he gained twelve hundred. He saw bigger opportunities, but he disciplined himself to stay small and low risk, slowly building his pool of funds. After one week he had turned his initial two thousand dollars into five. And then five into fifteen, then fifteen into thirty.
Each week Drew learned more and gained more. Three times he lost, but withi
n a couple of hours he’d recovered and moved on. His first withdrawal was to repay Sydney, with interest, then to pay rent for a building that Ben had located for the lab. The first equipment purchases for the LASOK followed shortly thereafter. He fed Ben money each week while being careful not to bleed off too much and thus limit his trading capabilities. After six weeks, their plan was in motion and functioning well.
Drew found himself in a position to improve his living conditions, but he could not bring himself to abandon Reverend Ray and his family or the people of the neighborhood he had fought and defended so many times before. He moved to a cleaner apartment that was still within walking distance of Emmanuel Church and began making anonymous donations to the soup kitchen ministry. It allowed Reverend Ray to expand the work so they could feed more homeless each week. Drew continued to volunteer on Fridays, but his friendship with Sydney seemed strained, and he didn’t know why.
ONE SATURDAY, SYDNEY JOINED Drew to visit the LASOK lab. When they entered, Ben was busy calibrating a piece of test equipment.
“Hi, guys. Welcome to the world of light acceleration.”
Drew was amazed at how Ben’s energy seemed limitless when he was working on a project, and this one was the mother of all projects. How few hours of sleep was Ben functioning on?
“Drew, I’m coming to a standstill until I get the funds for that electron microscope.”
“How much do you need?”
“Well, I found a used one on eBay for twelve thousand, but I don’t think the specs are quite there. We’d better plan on forty to fifty thousand and get it right the first time.”
Drew thought for a moment, calculating how much from the account he could release without impeding his buying power for future trades. “I should be able to have it to you by Thursday. Will that work?”
Ben hesitated. “With shipping time, that puts me out another two weeks.”
“Okay, I’ll shoot for Tuesday, but that will depend on Monday’s trading, so I can’t promise anything.”
“Deal,” Ben said with as big a grin as Drew had ever seen.