by P. S. Power
Not Howard, or Kerry, thankfully. It wasn’t being waved either, it was simply pointed where he looked, except at his people or the man who was clearly trapped by the telekinetic. Still, it was their girl, Kate, who picked up what was going on, first thing. Even before Denis got into the room.
The hanging fellow, dressed to hunt big game, stared then. At him. Denis.
A delicate finger pointed at the man, before Katie spoke. Brie. He needed to keep on top of that. Just like he was Richard now. At least in front of company.
“Dan Boyd. Stalker and fanboy. Of yours, Denis. He wants to bang you, so bad…” She didn’t have to fight a grin over the idea. Really, her face schooled itself almost instantly.
Rather than ride Den over the news, since he looked half panicked, Howard stepped forward. Distracting the others to cover for their guy.
“You figured I was him then? So were trying for some topless pictures for your… Alone time?” He didn't make a hand gesture for that one, since there were ladies present.
Denis narrowed his eyes at the man.
“Tell the truth.” From the side scatter coming off of the man, that was just going to happen, since there was a pretty intense sense of things coming from the guy. It was hard not to blurt out everything, very honestly. For Richard. It had to be harder for the man on the wall.
Dan, which was his real name, sighed.
“Fine. I just… You know, I love you. It started when I was watching Steinberg and friends. You’re… Perfect. I know that just showing up like this isn’t good. You aren’t even gay… I shouldn’t be here, but…” Then he managed to look over at Howard. “I was going to push you and run off, when I saw Kerry. Things got too real for me. Sorry. I wasn’t trying to hurt you or anything.”
Rolling her eyes a bit, Kate waved at Kerry.
“You might want to let him down? I don’t want to be a bitch, but you kind of have to leave, Dan. Stalking really isn’t going to work in this case. As you mentioned, Den isn’t even gay. That makes the whole dream you have kind of hard to pull off. It isn’t you, it’s just life, in this case.”
The man lowered to the floor, landing lightly. He still staggered a little bit. Then he shook his head. Howard kind of expected threats to come in then. Some sort of problem at any rate.
“I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come. I tried last night, but no one was here.”
Squinting a bit, the man really could turn into a blob that seemed like what Tabby had told him about the night before. It was tempting to offer to beat the man for a while, to help him learn not to be a funny boy, but Howard set that aside instantly.
After all, he might be needed to help remind Denis not to do that. They really didn’t need the police to be called into things at the moment. They also didn't need to be watched constantly. Just at the right time.
Smiling, he nodded.
“Okay, Dan, is it?” He locked eyes with the fat man, who nodded a bit at the use of his name. “Great. We have a picnic in a few days. Just down on the beach. Noon to two or three. Meet us here, at say, eleven-thirty? We’re walking down. That probably won’t get you in with Denis, but… It’s the best I can do for you that way. You can be friends, if you play it right. Not that you don’t have to get out of here now. So, on Wednesday. See you then?”
The man didn't seem happy to hear the invitation, but not sad either. As if it were a trick of some sort. It was different, but Brian, who didn't read minds or know everything in the world, just nodded.
“That’s a good idea. We’ll bring the food. So far, it’s just us, so make sure to show up on time?” He started walking, moving the man from the house without seeming like he was pushing the fellow to the door, physically.
Denis stayed in the back, his face controlled, but his body language seemed stiff and angry. It made sense, given a man had pretty much just told him that he loved him. That might set a guy back a bit. When the man was out the front door and had walked away, Katie clapped her hands. Then shut the door before speaking.
“Niiice. He’ll put that up on line and we’ll have at least ten to fifteen people getting us up at the right time. Showing we were in town here, at the beach, all the way across the country.”
Howard nodded.
“That was my hope, anyway. Newspaper people at the very least. We still have those, right?” He knew the answer, which was not really. It was all about the computer world now. A thing that he’d experienced for about an hour, the other day. That was about all of it for him. For his entire life, so far.
Taking a deep breath, Denis made a face, then growled a bit.
“I did not ask for this. Why would he even think I’d want that kind of thing?” He sounded worried about it, which made sense.
So Howard waved a hand to get his attention.
“It’s just one of the perks of being famous. A lot of people are going to want your attention, for different reasons. It isn’t a reflection on you. Not in any way. I know that setting you up for that picnic with the man will be awkward for you, but we’ll all be there to run interference on it. We can get your girlfriend in for this.” That would mean setting up stuff first, if he had that right. To hide her face from the public.
The timing wasn’t going to be correct for that though, he didn't think. They just had too much to do, and too little time to do it. Thankfully, no one else actually commented on the idea, letting it slide for the time being. Rather than have a big meltdown, Denis blew some air out, puffing his cheeks for a few seconds.
“I’m going to go and meditate. You should come with, Kerry.”
That got a slow nod from the girl as if it were a real thing and not code for Denis screaming and yelling about the abuse he was having to put up with. Even if that was kind of fair, given everything.
The snub-nosed woman smiled then.
“Let’s do that while running? The rest of you can come, too.”
Katie snorted at that.
“I actually have some things to do. How do you feel Rich? You mentioned being sore yesterday.”
That had been true, but he was fine, now. No aches or pains at all, for some reason.
“Good, really. I can run. I don’t know why, but…”
That got him laughed at, by Kate, who moved in and hugged him a little bit. No one else seemed to notice it in particular.
“That’s going to happen when you go into the mirror world. Each time, probably. I don’t know how much damage it will fix with each dose, but I noticed it last night. You didn’t mention it, so I figured I’d point that out. On the good side, you four can go running. I need a picture of you first though, Rick.”
That was a bit different, but she didn’t make him ask why.
“I.D., I can do that from here, but you need at least one, if not three, different set ups for that. I should do the rest of you as well. Kerry… After we get your face done up, we should consider doing that. It won’t work forever, since you’ll be noticed, being on television like you are. Actually… yeah. Everyone come with me. This won’t take too long.”
It didn’t, really. The whole day after that moved along smoothly enough. Until later in the afternoon, when Brian had to make fifteen different trips to get a load of shaped explosive charges that weren’t too powerful, and enough bulletproof glass that it should have taken a large truck to carry it around. They ended up in the desert, well away from anything of note.
The dry place was burning hot. Enough so that Howard wished he had a hat with him. They just propped the large sheets, which were nearly an inch thick and really heavy, up against a rock outcrop. Then Brian moved them all away, pulled his handgun from under his t-shirt and shot the glass half a dozen times. All in one spot. The thing had marks on it, but didn’t break through at all.
“None of us here is going to punch through that with our fists. Kerry could do it with her powers. Rich could probably use the reflections from it and just go through it with no problem, normally. We don’t get normal for this one tho
ugh. Even a sledgehammer won’t really work, I don’t think.” He waved to a pack of tools anyway. “Not that we won’t try that, just in case. First, we need to make sure that we can set off the explosive without killing anyone. It should be pretty small, really. Loud though. I have ear plugs for everyone.”
Those were small and purple, just being bits of foam that were inserted into their ears. It wasn’t perfect coverage, but was small enough that he could take it with him, as part of his kit. Rather than let Brian do the first one, which he clearly intended to do, Howard put his hand out. The whole thing was pretty close to self-explanatory.
“Peel off the backing, put it near the center of the glass, with the metal dome outward… Then… Turn the dial to the right and hit it like a button? How long is the fuse after that? Five seconds?”
He was making some guesses, but he’d worked with similar units before.
Yi nodded.
“Just like that. Ten seconds. I was told by my contact that you’ll need to be at least fifteen feet away. Preferably behind something. It should force everything outside, but should and will aren’t the same thing.”
It took a few seconds to get the backing taken off. It was white and felt like thin plastic, rather than paper. Then, sticking it firmly in place, he turned.
“Get clear. This is up against rock, so it might just toss things outward.” Then, as soon as everyone was far enough away to be safe, he turned the silver dial on the metal piece and tapped the front of the thing, then ran.
When it exploded, with a soft, but deep, whumping noise, nothing much seemed to have taken place at first. Not until the whole thing crumbled, falling to the ground in little pieces, after that. Nothing flew into the air, as far as he could tell. The hole in the glass was big enough for him to jump through, of course. About three feet in any direction.
Resetting, they did two more of the things. It worked decently well each time. After that, it was tool time. Brian decided that one, simply handing him a crowbar, first. Using all of his power, his new physical robustness, he managed to get through the thing. Eventually. After about ten minutes of work. That didn’t make a hole big enough for him.
He had to keep going for a long while to make that happen. Nearly half an hour.
When they tried the sledge hammer, that was faster. It still took better than normal strength and about five minutes. As he finished the last of the glass, he shook his head.
“So, explosives and Old Slammy the sledgehammer seem to be the winners. I can’t say I love the time on that second option. We don’t have a signal for a catch either, for that. I could… Wave a cloth first? Something bright?” Not that he wouldn’t be captured before he went out the window that way. Pounding on the glass had been loud enough that he had to figure it would be noticed if he were doing it in a fairly quiet building.
“If that happens, I’ll get the data out first. Then try to escape on my own. There’s no way to get out of the vault room on time, so it’s the window or nothing.” Which was part of why he was taking the job. It was a horrible one, being a real challenge.
Taking stock of that, he realized that he kind of needed to pull out of the whole thing. Except of course, that he couldn’t. It wasn’t only about the little kids that were going to be raped and killed if he failed, though even he could see that as being enough to make it worth the risk. His first mode wasn’t going to allow him to let it go past.
Really, the only thing keeping him from running into town to steal some penny taffy from one of the shops was that he knew he had to focus on the bigger, harder piece of work, first. Looking around at the mess they’d made, a sparkling pile of thick greenish pieces all over the place, he nodded.
“Hey, Kerry, can you fix these?” Really, he just wanted to see if she could do it at all. There were a lot of times in life where fixing a broken window was a great idea. A lot of thieves had been caught when a cop or neighbor saw a pile of broken glass on the ground.
Not only could she pull that one off, the whole thing looked like a marvel as it happened. Interestingly, it wasn’t like putting a puzzle together at all. No, the woman focused and then the glass on the ground melted into sheets that looked to be the same rough size and thickness.
When that was done, she panted a bit, but didn’t seem to have been struggling all that much.
“There! You know, I didn't think I was going to be getting this kind of a work out with my powers on this. Then, I had no clue what I’d be doing at all, so that fits. Most of the time I sit and watch soap operas. At least when I’m not working.”
Everyone there seemed to think that was funny. Except for Howard. After all, that was the kind of thing that women did. At least they had at the home. Some of the men had as well. He’d always been more of the type to pay attention to the news than that kind of thing, but it was down to personal preference. There was nothing wrong with a woman watching her stories, not that he could see.
It was probably an IPB thing then, rather than a man or woman one, given that.
Smiling a bit, he nodded, even if he didn’t get the joke in particular.
Brian removed the large sheets of glass, and got them back to the house about five minutes after that. It would have been faster, but the man came back covered in blood again. This time he had a nice burn across the right side of his face as well. If it bothered him, he didn’t let it show.
“An Infected man. He was losing it. I think it was just a bad first mode response. There was no flame or anything, just pure heat being tossed around. This should heal up in a minute or so. I have to say… I love the new healing powers and the other things that Tim did for me. This would have probably taken my face with it, before. I couldn’t dodge out of the way in time either. Even being faster now than I used to be.”
The man was kind of muttering about things, rambling a bit, but the whole story sounded about right to Howard. As soon as they got in for the day, Yi had to go out again. This time was different though, since he told them about it first.
“I need to make a visit. I kind of promised a friend of mine that I would. It won’t take too long, but…” He vanished, instead of telling them who the friend was, or what the point to the whole thing would be.
Interestingly, Kerry just smiled.
“He and Karen are on the list with Pixie right now. For sex?”
They were pretty much done for the day, but it seemed like a bit of a strange thing to have a schedule for. He didn’t mention it. It probably wasn’t his business, after all.
Kate just winked at him.
“Let’s get dinner going? This was a productive day. Oh, hey, I have some I.D. for you. Let me… Well, we can do that later, after we eat? We all missed lunch. I’m intermittent fasting anyway, but that doesn’t mean I’m not starving right now.”
He was feeling that too, but hadn’t wanted to complain about it. After all, if you wanted to be a good thief, you needed to be thin enough to fit wherever you were going. To that end, a lot of his life had been spent being more than a little bit hungry.
Den waved at them, his face a bit flat affected.
“I’ll get something going for that? You can do the I.D. now, if you want? We have about an hour, at the very least.”
That meant being led away, with no speaking until they were closed into a tidy room that was filled with different kinds of machines. It wasn’t a little space at all. On the table there was a set of identification. A driver’s license, for Idaho, a new passport and a social security card that looked decently old. There was also a birth certificate. That and the other things said he was eighteen years old. It took math for him to get to that, but he nodded.
It was about right, he didn’t doubt. At least based on how he looked.
“These are good. I honestly can’t tell they aren’t real.”
There was a tiny smile from the woman then.
“I know. For all intents and purposes, they are. You’re in the system as Richard Alan Drake. If anyone bothers to ch
eck, it will seem like you’re who you claim to be.”
“So… This is decent work?”
There was a snort then and the pretty woman let her eyes go big. She seemed innocent when she did it. It was a trick of course. She hadn’t been that in a long time.
“Decent? It’s very close to perfect. I doubt that there are four people in the world that could tell you aren’t Richard Drake, based on the records. You even have a high school diploma. That will hold up, as long as you don’t run into a classmate. Maybe even then, if you play it right. Claim you lost a bunch of weight, so that they just don’t get who you are now. I have paperwork on all of that. Memorize it.”
He chuckled, but there really was a file with all of that in it.
“Neat. Thanks. I… You know, I’m not really certain what I’m doing here. I mean, sure, we have a job to do, but the rest of it? Am I supposed to take the money and run after this? Is it a set up?” He waved at the identity on the work table. “Is this my clue to run as soon as I can?”
That sort of made sense, even with all he’d found out.
Interestingly, Kate touched his arm.
“Different worlds, Howard. This is just to let you start over. You have a real job with us. I know it doesn’t seem like it, starting this way and you can quit if you want, but we need you. Not just for this. Things come up where your skills can really help. This isn’t a set up at all. I just…” She stopped then and shook her head a little bit. It seemed genuine enough. Though it would have, coming from the woman in front of him. If she wanted to trick him, she simply could. Better than anyone else in the world, probably.
Which didn't mean she was doing that. There was no reason to, as far as he could tell. Oh, the IPB might sell him out as a patsy, if he got caught, or they did, but there was no percentage in it if he pulled the whole thing off.
It was a thing to watch for, but that was all.
His old friend smiled at him then.
“The IPB isn’t the FBI or the CIA, you know that, right? It’s a group of people that are mainly ex-military with about two hundred powerful Infected thrown into the mix. All of them, from the lowest Agent out, are more on your side than they are on the government’s. Plus, to them, you’re on the inside already. The boys yesterday? All of them just accepted you were the new guy. Really, Lancaster and Burks figured that you might be a good asset, in the future. That’s tentative, but you were efficient and kept the Operatives locked on. That’s considered hard for some reason by them.”