Foreseen (The Rothston Series)

by Smiles, Terri-Lynne

  I sat down at the table, facing across the Pit to where she would be working on a “project” with Brolie, not letting on that I had any clue what was going on. He looked her up and down like she was nude. God, I wanted to pound that fuck.

  I gritted my teeth, shrugged off my jacket and looked past her, out the wall of windows to where the bright sun glared off the stark February landscape. Some construction workers at the alumni office across the street were the only hearty souls braving the cold snap. A heavily mustached guy was strapping a thirty-foot I-beam to a crane. White clouds of breath billowed up as he called to his colleagues. It looked like that beam would be the main support for the first floor of the addition that would double the size of the old alumni house. The new structure was being renamed for the alum who’d donated the money, and I wondered if that would be me someday – having places I cared nothing about, bear my name.

  I drew my attention back to Kinzie, who was pretending to laugh at some joke Brolie had made. Maybe I was being too hard on her. But I didn’t trust this Rothston place for crap. Not after the one guy, Jamison, told Kinzie that what Brolie did to Murphy didn’t matter. Just harmless fooling around. Harmless my ass. My frat brother still couldn’t speak right – and maybe never would. Kinzie said she’d expected that response – because it was Brolie. The guy was a fool if he didn’t see the kind of person Brolie was. Calling him pure evil might be a little strong – but only a little.

  Brolie gave Kinzie a ghoulish grin and pointed to a student buried in her biology books at a nearby table, probably trying to get her to flunk a test. Kinzie shook her head firmly, and he argued with her for a moment, but she held firm. That’s my girl. I grinned to myself. I didn’t mind this part – watching Brolie struggle. He relied on his powers a lot, except he couldn’t with Kinzie. She knew when he was doing it. I remembered his shocked look the first time she’d wagged her finger in his face, scolding him for trying to make her mess up her training. She told me he’d claimed he was just helping to hone her skills. Neither of us bought that. And he didn’t do it again.

  So now, he had to deal with Kinzie the same way the rest of us did. And from the set look on her face as she sat back and folded her arms, he was failing. He seemed to be pleading with her, but I could see her mouth form the simple word, “no.” He looked pissed, but finally gave up and leaned back in his seat as well. After a moment, he snapped at her and pointed outside.

  Kinzie stared out the window for a long time, and when she turned back, she was biting her lip in thought. He must have given her a new challenge, hopefully something not totally fucktarded. She slowly nodded, and her face went blank as she concentrated on whatever it was he’d assigned her to do. I waited, wondering if I’d know when it happened. Some of her tasks had been obvious, like when Dr. Beecham, known for his eternal foul mood, stood in the center of the Pit and burst into praise over a student paper he’d just read. But I guessed that this one would happen outside, so I’d have to wait ’til later to find out what it was.

  I watched them for a few minutes and turned to my phone when it buzzed. A text from Glenn Gilroy about thermo homework. For nerds, they weren’t as smart as they should be. I was replying when a wrenching crash from outside shook the floor and rattled the windows. I jumped up reflexively to see a dozen students dashing to the window to see.

  “Holy shit!” a guy laughed, pointing out the window.

  “Did he drop that?” a girl echoed, alternating between the scene outside and her friends.

  I couldn’t see past them, so joined others who were heading outside to get a better view. My breath was ripped from me by the bitter wind, as I looked around to find the spectacle. A couple girls pointed quickly, before huddling their arms around them for warmth. Across the street, the massive I-beam was no longer on the crane, but had plummeted down across the crushed remains of a dumpster, and its end lay across a car, smashing it almost to the ground. Glass was everywhere like a bomb had gone off inside, and the crane operator was sitting in the cab, dazed, as the foreman with the heavy moustache yelled at him.

  For a moment, the air was still, then the guy beside me began slowly clapping. Then others joined in, hooting and cheering at the show. I looked back through the window to where Kinzie sat, emotionless, in her seat. Brolie was doubled over beside her, clapping her on the back and laughing his ass off. She looked out the window and our eyes locked for a moment before she turned away, giving Brolie a fake smile. Damn. This had gone too far. I blasted through the doors into the warmth of the Pit, and she sank in her seat as I bore down on her.

  “What the hell was that?” I demanded, pointing outside. I glanced around for Brolie but he’d hightailed it out of there. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

  “My job,” she said, narrowing her eyes at my tone. “It was just a dumpster,” she muttered. She folded her arms across her in defiance.

  “Just a – “ I spat, my mind balking at what she was saying. This couldn’t be Kinzie. “Just a dumpster?! That guy’s probably going to lose his job!”

  “Do you mind keeping it down, Greg?” she hissed, nervously scanning the students still gathered near the windows.

  I opened my mouth to protest but she grabbed my hand and hauled me back outside. The other students had retreated back to the warmth of the Pit, but I didn’t even feel the icy air this time.

  “What’s your problem?” Kinzie blasted at me, as we stopped next to the brick wall of the student union.

  I pointed across the street where the workmen were examining the car. “You crushed a car. Did you know that?” I shot back.

  She looked up sharply. “What?”

  “Missed that, did you?”

  She inhaled deeply. “That’s not my fault,” she announced. “I didn’t mean for that to happen. And it doesn’t matter.”

  “Doesn’t matter?” I roared in disbelief. “This is insane. Do you hear yourself? You’re done with Brolie and Rothston. Come on, let’s get out of here. I’ll figure out some way to pay for this,” I muttered. I turned to go back inside but Kinzie didn’t follow. She just stood there looking like thunder. “What?” I asked tersely.

  “Just like that?” she accused, her eyes glowing like coals. Some girls were cute when they were angry. Kinzie wasn’t one of them. She was scary.

  “Just like what?”

  “You snap your fingers and expect me to change my life – to do whatever you say.”

  “That’s crap. This isn’t about me, Kinzie,” I said, and pointed across the street again. “You crushed a car. Someone could have been in it. What’s next? Throwing around buses?”

  “IT WAS A TEST!” she screamed at me. “They needed to see if I was ready, and it was better than what Rex wanted to me to do.”

  “What he wanted you to do?” I parroted. “You need to stop taking orders from that shit bag. Or from any of those people.”

  “Those people? Those people!” she screeched. “Those people are me, Greg. If you have a problem with them, you have a problem with me.”

  I spun away to avoid swearing in her face and smacked my hand against the cold brick. “Damn it,” I snapped as I turned back. “I have a problem with Brolie, and I have a problem with you doing what he says. You could have killed someone. Did you think of that? Did you? Some kid in a car seat in there? What then?”

  She turned a shade paler at the thought but blasted back anyway. “I didn’t kill anyone, did I? No one got hurt. Maybe I didn’t expect things to go exactly the way they did, but nothing came of it. It doesn’t matter.”

  I threw up my hands in disbelief. “What the hell?” I snapped. “That guy out there – he’s going to lose his job. He’ll never work again in that industry. If that were your dad, would it matter?”

  “Leave my dad out of this!” she yelled. Her face flushed deep red, and her eyes had narrowed to slits. “I have to learn to do these things. Have-to!”

  “No, you don’t. I saw you refuse to do whatever he told you
first. You don’t have to do any of this.”

  “You don’t get it!”

  “Face it, Kinzie. You want to do this shit. You want to run the world. And you don’t care about screwing anybody over to do it,” I blasted.

  Her hand flashed out to smack me, but I caught it and held it firmly. “Let go!” she demanded, struggling to free herself. “I have to do these things, and you know it. And sometimes that means taking risks. Risks are part of the job.”

  I let go of her hand, my heart pounding with anger. I wanted to punch the wall. I didn’t know the person she’d become. I inhaled the frigid air and held it, willing myself to be calm. “Listen to yourself, Kinzie. You don’t pay for your risks. The crane operator paid for them today. And whoever is going to replace that dumpster. And fix the car. Hell, it’s totaled! You don’t even think about what it means to anybody else. You just said it – you don’t care.”

  “Bullshit,” she said, her tone suddenly cooling. “I’m working for the greater good. Trying to make things better for everyone. This was important. Rothston is sending me on a mission, and they wanted to make sure I was ready. This matters!”

  I pulled up short. “Mission? What are you talking about?”

  “Rex and I are being sent to Washington D.C. We are –”

  “Brolie?” I shot back. Anger flooded through me like I wouldn’t have believed possible. “You’re going to D.C. with Brolie? When?”

  She looked away the way she did when she knew she’d been caught. “The end of next week.”

  “Next week!” I shrieked, and heard the echo off the distant buildings. “No, you’re not! Not with Brolie.”

  “It’s not my decision, Greg. Rothston is doing big, important things and they need my help.”

  I stared, not believing she’d just said that. “Not your decision?” I repeated, suddenly calm. “But that’s what you do, isn’t it Kinzie? Make people’s decisions for them. Well, here’s a decision for you: you go with Brolie to fuck up D.C., and we’re over.”

  “It’s not my choice, Greg. I have to go.” She paused for a moment before coldly meeting my eye. “And I want to go.”

  I put up my hands in surrender. “Well then this is my choice: if this playing superhero is so important to you that you don’t care what happens to us little people, then fine. Go play your games with Rex Brolie. Be Czarina of the Universe. But not with me around.” I stared at her twisted face a moment longer, then turned and walked away.

  “Greg,” she called, and I could hear the strain in her voice. “This is how it had to end, you know?”

  I kept walking. The words should have hurt, but they didn’t. She wasn’t the person I thought she was. That person would have never said those things. Would have never casually ruined a guy’s life. The quiet girl who’d made sure I called the rats by their proper sex didn’t exist anymore. And the power-hungry, self-important czarina who’d replaced her wasn’t someone I needed in my life. I hit the door hard and stormed back into the Pit. Kinzie and I were over.

  Chapter 20

  Kinzie

  The world was a blur outside my dorm room window. The cold rain moved in on Thursday and continued the rest of the week, or at least I thought it had. I couldn’t really remember. All the colorful details of the world had faded as if the rain had washed them away.

  Sasha clucked her tongue at me. “You can’t go like that, Kinzie,” she chided, giving my jeans and Batman t-shirt a critical glance. I didn’t see that it mattered. I was going to get a job done, no one cared how I looked. I turned back to the window without answering.

  “Kinzie?” Sasha prodded cautiously. She wasn’t going to leave me alone. Maybe it was for the best. I needed to pack.

  “What am I supposed to wear?” I asked, twisting around to face her. Her forehead scrunched at the flat tone of my voice.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” I answered, but the tone remained dull. I didn’t mean for it to be. It just came out that way.

  “Come on, Kinzie. Rex said you’re going to Capitol Hill. Let’s find you some clothes. You should be excited,” she said cheerily, but her face was worried. She rifled through my closet and dresser to find acceptable apparel, but came up with only a pair of brown tweed pants, a gray skirt and the royal blue cashmere sweater that Greg’s stepmom had sent me as a belated Christmas present. She tossed these on my bed and shook her head sadly, before turning to her own closet. I picked up the sweater and held it to me as if it would stop the ache.

  I missed Greg. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that. I’d seen him every day for over a month. Spent nearly every free minute with him. Now that was gone. It left a huge hole inside me, but the emptiness would go away eventually. And all it proved was that having a boyfriend wasn’t worth it. I was better off without him.

  Sasha emerged from her closet with an armful of bright clothes. She began sorting through them, making me try on sweaters and blouses to see what would go with my pants and skirt. She finally settled on four interchangeable outfits – two for the committee hearing Rex and I were attending, a sparkly blouse for clubbing – I couldn’t see myself doing that – and a casual blouse in case we ended up … I don’t know what. She never explained that. I folded the clothes and put them in my wheelie while Sasha straightened the remaining pile.

  “Here, you better take this too,” she said, passing me a strapless party dress with a large bow around the middle. The silky, platinum material ran through my hands like water.

  “Maybe you haven’t noticed, but we aren’t shaped much alike,” I said, pinching my shirt out in front to make me look bosomy. “And I’m not going anywhere I would need it.”

  “Yeah, but take it anyway. This is D.C. Plans change.”

  I tried to argue, but it wasn’t worth the effort. I stuffed the dress in the bag and turned back to the window.

  “You’re better off without him, you know,” Sasha suggested cautiously. When I turned she was carefully refolding the shiny dress and I felt bad. That dress probably cost more than everything I owned. I should be grateful she was helping me.

  “I know. I better go down and meet Rex,” I said, heading for the door. Sasha stopped me.

  “Good luck, Kinzie,” she said, giving me an unexpected hug. “This is really cool. A real mission. We’re all a little jealous, you know.”

  “You guys probably hate me,” I replied. “Me so new, and –”

  “No, Kinzie,” she interrupted. “Rex is impressive and important. But you … you’re a nice person. People like you. That’s important too. Tell me everything when you get back, okay?”

  “I will, Sash. Thanks.”

  ψ

  I adjusted the blue sweater and smoothed the gray skirt as I tried not to fidget in my seat. The hearing room was cramped and stuffy, and the hearing itself was not particularly interesting. Four Congressmen occupied the raised desk in the front of the room, taking turns asking pointless questions to a stiff military contractor about the day-to-day situation in various North African countries – Mauritania, Mali, Niger. This committee was addressing the increase in attacks in that region from various terrorist organizations, and the committee chair and the senior representative on the committee were both strongly in favor of authorizing military funding to bring the attacks under control. Our job was to influence the remaining committee members to vote against increased military action keeping them in gridlock. There would be a time for such action, Rex had told me, but this wasn’t it. The Ducere – the international adept network – needed time to put other plans into place. Any action now could set back their ability to halt the terrorists’ plans, maybe by years.

  Today’s hearing would conclude the testimony on the matter and the committee would vote tomorrow morning. The first two of our targets had been simple. The dumpy woman on the right was torn on the issue. My head began to ache as I focused on broadening the ‘no action’ path. I gave Rex a quick jab in the ribs and told him to quit it. He was flustered a
s usual, and it gave me a chance to do my job. The woman quickly became committed to the position we wanted.

  The second was a balding, obese guy who, from reading him, had no business being on this committee. He hadn’t read any of the materials, had no clue what any of the witnesses were talking about, and kept checking stocks on his iPhone. That made my job easy though – gently nudging him toward the option he could use to tell his constituents he was cutting spending. Now we just needed the last member of the committee to be firm in a “no” vote. But that swing-vote hadn’t shown up yet, and so we sat.

  I felt achy and tired, like I was coming down with something, and had nothing to distract me. I shifted again, and Rex shot me that look you’d give a child who couldn’t sit through the sermon in church. He started murmuring information about each of the committee members into my ear to relieve my boredom. The fat one on the end had voted against a bill that would provide jobs in his state in exchange for being appointed to this committee. The severe woman in the middle had done the opposite, exchanging her vote on an Afghanistan issue in order to secure the votes for a pet project that made her look good to the voters in her district. I couldn’t stand this wheeling and dealing. Doing something wrong for the people you represent just to advance your political career. Rothston was a lot easier for me to swallow. Figure out what’s best for everyone, then go out and make it happen.