The Sound of Wind
Page 18
**
Neither of them got any sleep that night. It was obvious when Hugo met up with CJ outside of Gideon Enterprises at four in the morning so that they could take the bus together. CJ still seemed more alert than he felt, but she wasn’t fidgeting, which meant she was too tired to. He hadn’t thought that that was possible for her.
They set up in a Starbuck’s near the street corner where Sam would get killed. Wouldn’t get killed. They’d fix it. Sam would be fine.
Hugo drank a lot of coffee. CJ had several hot chocolates and supplemented the boredom by frequently getting up and wandering away. But never too far, she wanted to be there when Sam showed up. If Sam showed up. People started gathering at the stop light, and Hugo recognized every single one of them. He stood up, rushing to the door, CJ close behind him.
“Is this it?” She asked, peering out the door behind him.
“I think so.” Hugo chewed on his lip. And then there he was. Sam was briskly walking down the street towards them. They both ducked back into the Starbuck’s, silently deciding that it would be a bad idea if Sam saw and recognized them. He wouldn’t be coming in there anyway; he already had a coffee cup in his hand.
“Do something!” CJ hissed close to his ear.
Do what though? He had to do something. The wind picked up several bright red leaves and tossed them down the street and Hugo knew what to do. He felt kinda bad about it, but the gust of wind knocked the coffee cup over, splashing coffee all over the guy’s shirt. Sam cursed and immediately started brushing the hot liquid off his chest.
“Did you do that?”
Hugo nodded, cringing a little.
“Awesome!” They watched as Sam cursed and tossed the coffee cup into a garbage can, and then he turned around and headed back towards his apartment for a clean shirt. The 213 bus continued down the street, stainless. “We did it!” CJ exclaimed, all her energy returning in a bouncing fit.
“…We did.” CJ looked a little confused at his bewildered tone, but didn’t question it. Hugo stepped out onto the sidewalk, watching the lab technician’s retreating back. The guy was probably pissed. But that was ok, because he wasn’t going to die. And it was because of them. Hugo smiled, pushing his hands into his pockets.