EMIT (THE EMIT SAGA)

by Barbara Cross

  She came back when they were done and asked, “Did you notice a car this weekend parked at the entrance of Grammy’s street?”

  “I did. What about it?” I asked, nonchalantly.

  “Grammy had coffee with one of her neighbors and they told her it was a security team for a VIP. Isn’t it funny the same thing happened when you were at Martin’s babysitting?”

  “Oh, yeah, Mom. Did I forget to tell you that I’m the very important person and I have a security team following me around?” I laughed.

  “You are important and don’t forget that,” she said as she kissed my head. If she knew what was really going on, she’d be a basket case right now.

  I was going to lose my mind. When I walked out of the apartment, she came along.

  “Mom, only my arm is broken. I can still go for a walk alone.”

  “You might need me.” She looked so pathetic that I felt bad telling her to leave me alone. I was her only child and she was going to smother me whether I liked it or not.

  

  When I came downstairs, I heard Mom in the kitchen telling somebody, she was working from home again. I really needed help. I ran back into my bedroom. The only phone number I had was Daniel’s and since I didn’t want to talk to him, talking to the walls would have to do. “Listen, I know you guys can hear me. I have to get my mother out of here. Any ideas?”

  My cell rang immediately and it was a private number. “Pierce?”

  “Paige, it’s Daniel. How are you?”

  In my mind, I saw his face, eyes and smile. Being alone in this made me so vulnerable and I really missed him. Why did his number come up private? Did he change his number, so I couldn’t reach him?

  “Are you there?” he asked.

  “I’m here,” I said trying to sound indifferent. “I need help. They only call when I’m alone.”

  “Let me work on it.” He sounded very professional and aloof. “Bye.”

  As I walked downstairs, I had a brainstorm. “Mom, I really want a pretzel from the guy on Central Park South. Could you get me one? I’m just really not up to going,” I said yawning.

  “Sure, I have to take Amber for a walk anyway. Don’t forget to take your medicine.”

  I nodded and said, “Thanks Mom.” I didn’t call Daniel back; I knew they had heard.

  As expected, the phone rang after Mom left. “Meet us in the lobby in five minutes.”

  “I’ll be right there.” Now this all would end. I got the envelope from under my mattress, slipped on sandals, and headed for the elevator.

  Daniel was leaning against the wall waiting for me. My heart stopped and my legs felt like rubber. I tried to act calm since there was no other choice. Forget my arm-- that would heal, but my heart I wasn’t so sure about. Saying I didn’t care was easier when I didn’t have to see him.

  “Hi,” he said. “Ready?”

  Afraid that I might break down, I didn’t look at him and just nodded.

  “Pierce is in the lobby. Just hand the man the envelope then turn around and get back in the elevator. I’ll be waiting for you, okay?”

  I managed another nod. Please, let it be that easy.

  “Don’t worry, I’m here. Nothing will happen.”

  That comment infuriated me and I looked up at him. “I’ve heard that before,” I said as I lifted my broken arm for effect. Daniel had circles under his eyes and looked exhausted. I guess that’s what spying on people did to you.

  “I’m sorry, Paige. That shouldn’t have happened.”

  “Let’s get this over with so that you never have to see me again,” I said sarcastically. What was the point of rehashing this nonsense? Nothing he ever said made any sense.

  “Paige…” he started, but the elevator doors had opened and someone was in the elevator. He didn’t say anything else. What more was there to say?

  In the lobby, I saw Pierce sitting in a chair pretending to read a newspaper. Carl glanced at me and motioned to a man sitting on the couch. I had never seen him before. He was a young, black man dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. Not at all what I expected. I walked over, handed him the envelope, turned around, walked back to the elevator and pressed the UP button. Not one word was exchanged between us.

  When the doors opened, I got in, turned and saw him talking on his cell. Thank goodness, it was all over. Daniel wasn’t in the elevator. I guess that was it. I’d never see him again.

  The elevator doors opened and Daniel was standing there.

  “Thank you,” he said sincerely

  This was excruciating. “I’m going to Long Island. While I’m gone, whatever you have bugged, get rid of it immediately.”

  “I promise within two weeks, it’ll be done. We need to make sure it all worked out.”

  “What are you talking about? If what worked out? You said that if I handed over the envelope, it was over!” I tried not to yell, but this was ridiculous.

  “We just need to be sure,” he said calmly.

  “Whatever you’re talking about, I don’t care,” I said, frustrated. “Since I did my part, please stop listening to my conversations.”

  “We will stop as soon as we can, I promise.”

  Mrs. Braxon came out of her apartment and stared at us as she walked towards the elevator. Noticing that I looked upset, she said, “Paige, is everything okay?”

  “Yes, thank you.” The elevator door opened and she went inside glaring at Daniel.

  As soon as the elevator left, I lashed out by saying, “By the way, I’ll be telling Lily everything now. I’m warning you, like you asked, so you can be prepared. I have no idea what that means, but I don’t want to be the immature one.” I walked away and went into the apartment. Tears streamed down my face, knowing that I’d miss him. They’d better not be able to see me. I’d die if they had cameras anywhere.

  When Mom returned, she was baffled at my complete change and asked, “Are you okay? When I left you were fine, did something happen?” She handed me the pretzel.

  What could I say? This broken arm did come in handy. “I banged my arm and it really hurts.”

  Mom put her arm around me and tried comforting me. “I’m so sorry.” She kept trying to say the right things, but didn’t know that it wasn’t my arm that I was crying about.

  Later in the day, I called Lily and asked her to come over the following night. I had to tell her about Daniel and hoped that she’d forgive me for not being honest with her.

  I sat on my bed thinking that the summer had started off disappointing, turned wonderful and was ending horribly. As soon as all the bugging equipment was removed, I’d be totally free. There was a whole month left before school and though I hoped time would heal this hole in my heart, I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy.

  The cell rang and I didn’t know the number. “Hello?” Please don’t be some crazy person.

  When I heard a male voice, I got scared. “Hey, its Chad.” Thank God! “I heard about the hit and run. How are you?”

  “Getting better everyday. What’s up with you?” He didn’t call to talk about the accident.

  “Not much, but I want to ask Lily out and since she lives in Westchester, I wanted to ask you for some advice.”

  “Lily’s coming over tomorrow night. Why don’t you guys go out?” I suggested.

  “You don’t mind?”

  “Of course not, I’m leaving for Long Island on Thursday, so I’ll see her on the weekends.”

  “Great. I’ll call her now.”

  Even though I was physically drained, I couldn’t stop my brain from racing, so I grabbed the journal and filled in the latest entry. I felt so sad. My cell buzzed and I was grateful for the call.

  It was Lily. “Chad just called and said he talked to you. I thought you wanted to talk.”

  “I do, but we can talk before or after your date. Don’t worry, go out with him.” My eyes started closing, so I told Lily I’d see her tomorrow.

  

  When I opened my
eyes, my cell was ringing right near my ear. It was under my pillow. I must have forgotten to put it on my nightstand. Had I fallen asleep talking to Lily?

  “Hello,” I answered groggily.

  “Paige, it’s Daniel, I need to see you.” Why was he doing this to me? I know it wasn’t painful for him to talk to me, but hearing his voice was agonizing for me.

  “Why?”

  “We have a problem. There’s another envelope. This isn’t finished.”

  “What are you talking about? Please leave me alone,” I snapped and hung up the phone. My cell kept buzzing, but I refused to answer and it stopped, so he must have gotten the hint.

  There was a note on the kitchen counter from Mom saying she was at the office.

  As I was going back upstairs, I heard knocking on the front door. How did they get past the doorman? I quietly reached the door, looked through the peephole and saw Daniel standing there. “Please leave me alone,” I said through the door.

  “Please let me in.”

  “I’m in my pajamas.” Oh, who cares? What does it matter what I looked like? He didn’t like me anyway. Wearing a long sleeved top with long bottoms, nothing was visible anyways, so I flung the door open. “What do you want?” I asked loudly.

  “Shh, your neighbors. Can we talk inside?”

  “Do I have a choice? I told you I didn’t want to talk and you came here anyway.” I saw James Haydin walking by with my neighbor, John Costra. Why was he talking to him?

  John stopped when he saw me and asked, “Paige, how’s your arm?” James Haydin ignored me.

  “Getting better. How’s Luke?”

  “Great. He’s been learning to swim.”

  “Tell him I miss him.”

  “Will do,” he said and walked away with James.

  Daniel looked frazzled and I looked away. It was easier that way.

  “Why is James talking to my neighbor?”

  “Every package that enters the building especially anything that goes to your floor is scanned. Yesterday, John Costra received a delivery and James wanted to talk to him because there’s a chance he might be involved in this case.”

  “What are you talking about? He’s my neighbor with a wife and child.” All of this was getting crazier and crazier by the minute.

  “We’re investigating him because there was a bomb in the package,” Daniel said it so matter-of-factly that at first I thought I must have heard wrong.

  “What? Did you say bomb?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “But who was it for? Me?” I shrieked.

  “We don’t know. We need to investigate John Costra though.”

  “But it makes no sense. If they killed me, they wouldn’t have gotten the envelope. Or were they going to kill me after they got it?”

  “We’re not sure, but they’ll be back looking for you and the other envelope.”

  “But I don’t have another envelope. That was the only one,” I answered. I found it impossible to break my glance because he still had such a powerful hold on me, but I was reeling from all this bomb talk. “How do you know they’ll be back?”

  “We just do,” he said. “You’ll be safe for about seven to ten days if nothing changes.”

  That was it. The moment he said, ‘If nothing changes,’ I got irate. “What are you talking about?” I shrieked. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. I’m leaving tomorrow, so you need to take care of this by yourself since I don’t have another envelope.”

  “The problem is they think you have it and they won’t give up.”

  “You know, you’re crazy because you can’t know that,” I said.

  “The problem is that things are changing so quickly now that you actually might be right. I’ve already been wrong a few times.”

  “Finally, I might be right, hallelujah,” I looked up to heaven. “I suggest you go investigate the people at my dad’s firm since that’s how I got that first envelope. How about Maria, the office manager, or Sonia, the secretary? One of them could’ve put the envelope in that file.”

  “We are and have been for awhile, but there are over a thousand people in that firm here and many more in London. It’ll take too long.”

  “Well, since I won’t be working there, I won’t get any more envelopes. They don’t want a one-armed photo copy girl.”

  “The problem is that the catastrophe will happen if we don’t find that other envelope.”

  “I am so sick of all this talk of the future, sci-fi jargon, nonsense. I’ve kept this crazy secret, but I’m no longer letting you guys call all the shots. Until someone explains to me what’s going on, I want you leave me alone or I will tell my parents.”

  “I can’t tell you anything. It’s classified.”

  “Well, then I don’t want to be involved anymore. I want all of you out of my life. Please go deal with bombs, envelopes and goons all by yourself.”

  “I’ll leave. But if the envelope turns up, please call me.”

  “You’ll be the first person I call.” After he walked out, I slammed the door.

  Lily got in around six and knowing that this drama wasn’t over, I was afraid to tell her anything. The bomb part really scared me. Even with the doormen and the NSA security, a bomb got into my building. It could have killed me, John Costra, and who knows how many others.

  We went to my room and Lily sat on my bed. “I know something’s wrong. Please tell me.”

  I stared at Lily’s face and couldn’t hold it together any longer. I was falling apart inside and I started to cry.

  I jumped up off the bed and blasted the radio. They couldn’t hear me. I wouldn’t let them have the satisfaction of knowing how upset I was.

  Lily didn’t know what was going on and she looked so confused. She hugged me and said, “Please don’t cry. Tell me what’s going on?”

  I took a piece of paper and wrote ‘MY ROOM IS BUGGED, LET’S GO OUTSIDE.’ Lily stared at me like I was crazy. I nodded that it was true. Not wanting Mom to see my red face, I put on my sunglasses. Lily followed me out to the kitchen and didn’t say anything.

  “Mom, we’re taking Amber for a walk. Call my cell when dinner is ready.”

  “Okay. Lily, I heard you’re seeing a movie with Chad tonight. What time are you going out? I want to make sure you eat.”

  “He’s meeting me here around 7:45. Don’t worry. I’ll get something at the movies.”

  “No, that’s plenty of time for us to eat together.”

  When we got outside, Lily asked. “What are you talking about? Who’s bugging you?”

  We walked and I talked. Basically I told her everything as best I could since there was so much that I really didn’t understand myself. Lily didn’t interrupt, just listened attentively and gasped at times. The car accident flipped her out.

  She exploded, “Someone ran you over on purpose! You have to go to the police.”

  By the end of the story she understood the problem in contacting the police. Even if the police believed me, which was doubtful, the NSA would step in and take over.

  We sat on a bench and she just stared at me in a stupor. “You need to tell your parents. I don’t know if I trust this agency. It all sounds so crazy.”

  “I can’t. I still believe Daniel. Even if he hurt me, I do trust him.”

  “What did he mean when he said this will happen in the future?”

  “Every time I’ve asked, he says it’s classified. I told him not to talk to me again until he tells me what’s going on. That’s the reason I’m going to Grammy’s. I can’t do this anymore.” I started getting emotional and Lily comforted me.

  “It’s probably best that you get out of here.”

  “You need to know that your house is bugged, too.” I watched her face as all of this slowly registered. First surprise, then understanding and then rage showed on her face.

  “You’ve got to be kidding! They took that photo of him from my scrapbook? They were in my house?” she asked, putting two and two together.


  “Yes,” I began. “Daniel said that someone was watching and protecting you. Lily, at least you’re safe, well unless they try to run you down.” I started chuckling because this all sounded so stupid, that it was funny.

  Lily looked at me like I had truly cracked up, and maybe I had. “Why are they following and bugging me too? What could I possibly have to do with this?”

  “I have no idea, maybe it’s because you’re always with me. Beats me, this whole thing is going to put me in an insane asylum. I can’t figure anything out.”

  “I can’t believe they were going to bomb your building.”

  “Isn’t that insane?”

  Lily suddenly said, “I thought we’d never keep secrets from each other.”

  “I’m sorry, but I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

  “But you did get hurt and I had no idea what really happened. If anything happened to you... I can’t even go there,” said Lily, visibly distraught.

  “Daniel said that I had at least a week before those goons figured out they needed something else. But then he said that he could be wrong, so let’s hope that’s the case,” I said.

  “When you saw him on Long Island, was it him?” Lily asked.

  “Yeah, you owe me ten dollars,” I said and laughed.

  Lily stared at me like I was deranged and she might be right. I felt like I’m losing my mind.

  My cell rang and it was Mom telling us to come home.

  After dinner, I went with Lily down to the lobby to meet Chad. I made him promise to walk her home afterwards. Chad looked at me oddly and said he had planned to do that all along.

  Heading back towards the elevator, I almost walked into Pierce. “Off to work?” He just nodded and walked out of the building.

  Mom and Dad watched a movie in the den, while I waited for Lily in the living room and prayed that we’d both stay safe. With nothing good on TV, I picked up my Lord Byron book and read, ‘When We Two Parted.’

  WHEN WE TWO PARTED

  When we two parted

  In silence and tears,

  Half broken-hearted

  To sever for years,

  Pale grew thy cheek and cold,

  Colder thy kiss;