by P. S. Power
That part got him to smile a bit. It had been tempting to dress up in a real shirt, with buttons on the front and a nice pair of slacks. That had been in the boxes of things for them to choose from. The truth was that young looking people didn’t dress that way. They wore blue jeans and running shoes. For that part he had the still damp things he’d taken from the gym. That was going to have to stop, in a day or two, if he didn’t want his feet to rot off.
Tabby had followed him into the dressing room, but had stayed there while he scrubbed up. That meant she was there, on the wooden bench, when Sam and Tank came in.
It was the glowing man who waved.
“Rick! There you are. We have a call for you. On the sat phone? Um… They asked for Richard and Tabitha… I didn’t know who that was at first, until Tank reminded me about your cat’s name.”
There was a soft meow, as the blue and green glowing man looked at the kitten. A soft swath of light reached out her way, then pulled back. It was interesting to watch. Sam just smiled at the interplay. As if all cats answered to their names.
Or got phone calls.
That was odd. Nearly impossible, as far as he knew. Still, they were Richard and Tabby, so he nodded. Even if it was a wrong number or some other Rick was around, he needed to go and take the call. Then he could search for whoever was really needed. It was wasted time, but real people answered to the names they gave out.
“Where is that? The sat phone?” It had been a while since he’d used anything of the sort. Not since the eighties or so. Then it had been cutting edge technology. Now it was probably normal. He’d been a bit out of the loop that way, for a while. About fifteen or twenty years.
The tall man, standing next to his slightly shorter, but still big, husband, waved for him to follow.
“Over by the command center. It’s the DHS set up.” There was a long look then, as they hit the dark hallway. Light came in through a row of windows, but it wasn’t enough to make the place seem happy at all. There were lights in the ceiling, so he had to figure that the kids that attended there didn’t actually have to sit in the dark all the time when school was in session.
Tabby was walking behind them, jogging a bit to keep up, since the tall man stretched his legs. Hurrying them along, meaning to or not. Where he was tended to be brighter, of course. The issue there was that the swirl of colors, while bright enough, weren’t that clear. If he could have matched a pure white light, he probably would have been about as useful as a single forty-watt bulb. As it was, Sam was worth about half that. More at night though, at a guess.
So it was a real super power, but one that probably wasn’t that useful to him. Worse, it seemed constant. A thing that meant he was known for being Infected all the time, everywhere he went. So far, there at the emergency shelter, no one had seemed to have that big of a problem with it. That really was different. Even ten years before people would have pretty much driven him away, instead of letting him stay with all the normal folk.
Howard had never really bothered with that kind of bigotry. Or any kind. After all, he’d fought the Nazis over that kind of thing. Once you’d done that, it didn't make sense to hold on to a lot of garbage like bigotry. So, when people had shown up with powers and problems, he’d tried to take each of them one at a time. There had been good and bad folk that way. Just like every group had going on. True, they tended to be a bit more good or bad, but that just made them easier to deal with, most days. You knew what you were getting with someone that was Infected.
For instance, Tank at least knew that he had to keep his wallet safe. Which he did, without making too big of a scene over the whole thing. So far Howard had resisted raw kleptomania, but he really had to admit it was sort of hard to pull off.
Looking at him still, the giant fellow, his long hair more blond in the light from the windows than it had seemed the night before, grinned at him.
“Why would anyone be calling for you on a DHS sat phone?”
It was a good point. A very solid one, in fact.
“They wouldn’t. It’s probably for someone else, but you know how that is… If you don’t answer the call, you never know who’s calling.” It sounded smart to him, saying that. Wise, nearly.
Tank shook his head.
“Yeah. I suppose this kind won’t have caller I.D.”
Instead of leaving him at the door of the room, to fend for himself, he was led inside by Sam. Almost protectively. Tank stayed in the hallway. Clearly avoiding the people inside. There weren’t a lot of them or anything. Five. Galley, from the night before, two women who both looked ready to fall over and a couple of short haircut types that obviously didn’t fit in. Military or something like that.
One was Asian looking. Chinese. The other was a taller white guy, with short hair that made tight waves on his head. Both were lean and hard looking. They had on fatigues, complete with boots and all. It was a military look, but the uniforms had patches that said IPB.
Infected Protection Bureau.
The ones that came for people like him. Sam was a more likely target that way, but these men were both sitting, not standing up with guns drawn. They both had side arms, but even looking at the glowing man, neither one tensed up.
Really, they didn’t do more than glance at them. Then they went back to work, muttering to one another about something, while looking at a display of a map.
Galley, holding a cup that smelled like it might be filled with coffee, if a kind that had dubious heritage, nodded at him. Clearly getting what was going on.
“Right. Richard and Tabitha. Over here. You know what this is about? No one is supposed to have this number except my people. That and Turner from the IPB…”
The name got one of the men, the white one, to look up.
“Except that she wouldn’t hold like this. Is it Cindy?” For some reason he looked at the other man, who was sitting right there with him, as if he’d know the answer.
Naturally, there was a shrug in response.
“I don’t know.” He was interested anyway, though it was clear he was trying not to force his way in. At least he traced something on the map screen with his finger. “We can head out, as soon as we get a vehicle. I could teleport us in, but…” He seemed a little embarrassed, and looked up at Sam for some reason. “It’s the water. I can go there, to get the supplies, but short of moving into the air about ten feet up, I can’t be sure that I won’t come in, surrounded by water. Going in moves it out of the way, but then it comes back, which is less than fun.” There were hand gestures and whooshing noises.
The other man, curly head, rubbed at his chest then a bit.
“Yeah. That kind of sucked. It isn’t that far, about twenty miles each way. Once we get out of the flood zone we can do it. Plus, you can come back, directly.” There was a slightly placating, or possibly begging, tone to the words. It was playful, instead of demanding, though.
Not all that military, despite how they looked.
The phone was a lot smaller than he would have figured on it being. There was a dish antenna, but that was inside the building, just sitting on a school table. The handset had a cord on it though, which was familiar enough for him. Old fashioned, like he was. Galley waved at it again, so he picked it up.
The black man nodded.
“Just hit talk. Like on a cell.”
It took a second to find that, but it worked, as soon as he connected with it.
Then he had to speak, not knowing at all what the fudge was going on.
“Richard and Tabby here. How may I help you?” That sounded a lot more polite than barking who is this, which was his other option. Especially since it couldn’t be for him.
“Richard!” The voice in his ear sounded too happy to hear from him. Also like a young woman. Probably the girlfriend of the real Rich. That or the wife. “I have a job for you to do.”
Shrugging a bit, he smiled, playing for the room, even if his back was turned.
“Sorry… May I ask who this is?
I think you might be calling for some other Richard and Tabitha? My tabby is a cat, after all.” There was a meow, which came at his feet. Then his pant leg was batted at a bit, playfully.
The words got a laugh, which were only in his ear.
“No, I have the right people. This is Katie. Kate Smith? We worked together for a while in the early nineties, Howard. The Lisbon jobs?”
That got him to blink. It wasn’t as if he didn't recall the work that had been done. More to the point, he remembered Katie. She was one of about a dozen Infected people that he’d known in his career. For a while, about a year, they’d hung together, working on jobs. He’d been mainly retired at the time, so had been her teacher, more or less.
It wasn’t about Lisbon Portugal though. Rather, he’d been in Lisbon Georgia back then. Still, he’d already gone by Howard, so that part fit. Scrambling a little, feeling more than a bit shocked, he nodded.
“Peach pie.” It had been her favorite dish at the time, at the little diner they’d done a lot of their planning at. Not all of it by any means. The girl had solid mental powers. Like telepathy, but different than that. Whatever she had going on ate up a lot of calories though, day to day. So she’d enjoyed eating.
There was an exhalation then.
“With a single scoop of vanilla on top. Exactly. So, not to be a pain, but I could use some help.”
That part didn't make any sense at all. The girl, and she’d looked young back then, had been good. Honestly, after about a week or two, she hadn’t really needed to hang with him any longer. The combination of her powers and fitness level had pretty much gotten her to the top of the field as far as second story work went.
“Why? I haven’t been doing that kind of work for a while now. Not since we were pals, back in the day.” They hadn’t been lovers, since she’d been a nice looking twenty-odd year-old girl and his wrinkles had taken to developing extra wrinkles at about that time. They’d been friendly though. Nearly as close as he’d ever been to anyone, to be honest about it. Sure, he’d had a few gals in his day that had been in his bed, but that only counted for so much in life.
There was a moment of silence.
“I’d noticed your upgrade the other day. That… I’d claim it was a surprise, but I’d been told it was going to happen. Back when I knew you before? Devorah told me about it. I checked up on you about once a week since then, just to keep up with you.”
That was a different memory. Devie had been an intense and strange woman. Good about knowing where not to go though. That had been a power too, he thought. She always had claimed not to be Infected. They hadn’t really been that close, but had met. Friends, after a fashion.
“Oh? How is she?”
“Dead. She tried to take over the world and enslave us all. She wasn’t well, at the end. So we had to have an operative take her out. Dark stuff. It was close, too. Didn’t you see the news about that?”
Her tone was leading, but the truth was, he honestly couldn’t recall that.
“In that war? The one with the girl?” He knew the name on that one, but didn't know what he was allowed to say in the room he was in. After all, if Katie wanted him for a job, that work wasn’t going to be legal. There was only one reason to come to him for anything, unless you needed an old Volkswagen Bug worked on.
“That’s right. Anyway, I’ve honestly been keeping tabs on you, for a few decades, so it wasn’t a big shock that you popped when you did. Not for me. We’ll need to meet up, to pass on the particulars. As to why I need you for it… It’s mainly that your powers will get you around some things that would be a lot harder for me. We need a person with your skills, or we could send in other people. You’ve met Brian?”
Howard just blinked, not knowing what the heck she was talking about there.
“Sorry?”
“Brian Yi. The Chinese man in the military style uniform, behind you? He’s great. Really tough in a fight. He can teleport, but he doesn’t know how to stay off of cameras to save his life. We should get him lessons with you on that, but we have a time limit on some information that has to be picked up. It’s going to be moved again soon and they’ve automated the process, which will make it so I can’t follow it. Not easily.”
That did explain a lot of things, he had to suppose.
Also, she wanted him to steal things, which sounded like a lot of fun, he had to admit. It was tempting to just say yes and agree with her. That or growl at her for not visiting him while he was laid up in an old folks’ home for all that time. Then, she was the kind to stay busy, if he remembered correctly.
“I’m not in a position to travel right now. There was a storm here. A big one. There’s flooding and the power is down, which you clearly get.”
She’d called on a DHS sat phone after all. It explained how she had the numbers for it. Katie knew just about everything. It was her thing.
“Get in with Brian and Denis when they go for supplies. Tell them that Brie wants you to go, then for Brian to take you from the location to my house. He knows where it is. For that matter, I want them in on this. The ones there are your team, so keep that in mind.”
That, the way she said it, got him to snort a bit.
“See, you’re going to make me all jealous. All right, doll. I’ll get that set up. Though, can’t he do that from here?”
There was another pause, then a soft sound in return.
“Two things. First, they can use you on a trip like this. You have skills that way. Second, I want you to get to know them. It might actually be important later. Otherwise I could just tell them where to come in to avoid the water. Think of it as a bonding road trip? Anyway, you have all that? I need to get off the line. A real call is going to come through for Agent Galley. It’s his boss.” There was a click then. He hung the handset up quickly, in case it was needed.
It rang almost instantly, so he moved back, instead of picking the thing up. It wasn’t his phone, after all.
The Chinese guy, Brian, looked at him, clearly getting that something was up. He locked eyes for a bit, but didn’t seem upset or anything like that.
Howard shrugged.
“Brie suggested that Tabby and I go with you, on your run. I can help on that. Forward scouting. Then she wants you to transport me to her place? She said that you’d know where that was. Her house?” That might be different or mean something specific, like a rally point, instead of an actual dwelling. That the woman knew people in the IPB…
Well, things changed over the years. He’d been pretty well convinced that she’d been on the dark side of things back in the day, though. Cons and grifts, instead of thieving all the time, but the woman had her hands in a lot of different pies and pockets.
That she might have worked out how to get the government to do things for her was far from impossible.
Instead of seeming upset that some kid he didn't know and an adorable kitten was going to be coming with them, or wanted to at any rate, the man just smiled. It was a sudden thing and while he had a solid thousand-yard stare going on, it also looked real.
“That sounds good. Thanks. Yeah, I think I know the location on that. I’m Brian. This is Den.” He glanced around, but the two tired seeming women didn’t look up and Galley was busy on the phone. It just sounded like a normal conversation though, not a screaming match or a dressing down.
Smiling, he waved his right hand a bit, at his own chest.
“Richard. This is Tabitha, the cat. The glowing gentleman is Sam and the silent lurking one in the hallway is Tank. Sam’s husband.” If the men there had a problem with that, it was best for them to know about it before he tried to get them in on the trip.
The curly haired one did tense a bit, then relaxed almost as fast. There was no mention of anything though. It wasn’t about being Infected, either. He wasn’t worried about Sam at least. If anything, he’d pretty much been ignoring the man, which was hard to do. He was really tall and the light show was hard to miss.
“Tank is a good dr
iver. We should get a few vehicles though, not just one or two. That way we have back up in case we get stuck. I can drive if we need.” It was true and as Brie had mentioned, he did have a few skills that way.
No license on him, but he had to doubt that the county sheriff would be out at the speed traps that day, all things considered.
Plus, he could steal a car or two for them, if he had to.
The Asian fellow stood up then.
“Sounds good, if you’re in? Sam and Tank? I have that right?” He sounded… Honestly, like he really didn't want to offend anyone. His voice was dark and gravelly, but under that was a certain kind of earnestness.
Then, whoever this kid was, he’d been in the wars. That was written all over him. That kind of thing, battle, left an imprint on men that was hard to wash off. Howard had managed it, but only after nearly half a century of trying. Whatever had gone on with Brian, it was closer to them in time than that. Then, he looked to be in his mid-twenties.
Which, Howard realized, meant nothing much.
He looked younger than that still. If he were going to get older seeming, it hadn’t happened yet at all.
Tank stepped into the room, looking a little bashful for some reason. He hadn’t been like that the day before. It was directed, not at Brian though, but the other man, who he kept glancing at, like he wanted to date. If that was the case it was rude of him. After all, his husband was right there. Sam rolled his eyes a bit, but didn't comment on things.
The slightly beefy man nodded.
“I can drive. I have my truck here. Sam has the Range Rover, so that’s two. I think Rick has the right idea though. We need at least three vehicles with us. That means at least one more person? I want two bodies per, if we can do it. It makes communications easier.”
That was a plan, though Howard didn’t know who else they were supposed to get for that. Brian, moving toward the doorway, just nodded.