by Jeff Adams
“Yeah, Mom said the same thing.” I worked to adjust the shifting mechanism so it’d be just right. “I still hurt sometimes, especially when I move after being still for a while. At least it’s not all pain all the time anymore.”
“You scared me, Theo,” Eddie whispered. “Not just the accident and the weird kidnapping thing. You’ve had such a—I don’t know. The look in your eyes hasn’t been you since I surprised you in Denver. It was like you were waiting for….”
I looked to him from where I squatted next to the bike. With it up on its rack, I saw him through the rear-wheel spokes. His sad expression hurt me. I’d seen many looks on Eddie in the last year, good and bad. I hated that I did this to him.
I laid my tools on the garage floor and went to him, wiping my hands on the towel I pulled from my back pocket.
“I’m okay.” I pushed his legs apart so I could get close. I was butted up against the car bumper, but I pulled him to me so I could hug him. “It was a crazy couple of days between the tourney and the accident. I’m glad you were there. You kept me together.”
The sadness didn’t lift from his eyes, but he put his arms around me.
“I just don’t want to lose you. Maybe I’m just being silly.”
It was obvious he had more to say. “Spill it.”
We stared at each other. It must’ve been an interesting picture, two people in a stare down while hugging.
“I’ve seen you get hurt in games many times, this was different, though. Like I said, it was like more happened to you than a car accident.”
Was he fishing? I’d given him the rather in-depth story about the accident.
“I don’t know,” I said. “The past couple of weeks have been crazy. I guess I don’t deal well when everything piles up.”
“I hope that’s all. I’m here for you for sure, but I’d rather not see you like that.”
“I’d like that too.” I gave him a small smile followed by a kiss.
I untangled myself from him and returned to the bike. He talked while I tested the shifting by spinning the pedals as I clicked the gears.
“So have you picked out what you’re wearing to the dance yet?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
Who did he think he was talking to?
“Only sort of. I was thinking we’d dress up, look sharp. Like we did that night at the tourney.”
“Really? It’s not like this is a formal dance.”
“No, but I liked dressing up with you, and you know, why not?”
I loved this guy. He was the only one who could get me to fold easily on something I kinda hated.
I glared at him but not really. He just raised his eyebrows and gave me a smile he knew would melt any resistance.
“Fine.” I drew out the word in an exasperated way.
“Yes!” He even added a fist pump for emphasis. Crazy guy.
He jumped off the car, grabbed my hand off the bike’s shifter, and spun me around. My chest slammed into his, which sent a jolt of pain through me.
He put his arms around me, holding me just above my waist. He swayed to music that only he could hear.
“It’s gonna be a great time.” He moved me so I’d keep time with him.
This felt nice. If going to a dance meant we could be close like this, though, pressed together and swaying, I’d do that anytime.
I matched my hand placement to his and relaxed into his lead. It was pretty simple—sway and turn. I dropped my head just enough so I could lie against his chest as we moved.
A contented sigh escaped, and he squeezed me just slightly, probably the gentlest hug ever.
“Theo?” I jumped back when Mom called out from the door that led to the kitchen. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you two.”
“It’s okay, Mrs. Reese,” Eddie said. “Just practicing a little for the dance this weekend.”
My face was hot enough it must’ve been a vibrant shade of red.
“What’s up, Mom?” I tried to sound like I wasn’t embarrassed out of my mind.
“A young man’s here. Cullen? Said he looked for you at school but couldn’t find you.”
Interesting. I hadn’t heard anything since I’d given his info to Mom a few days ago.
“Sure.”
Mom pushed the button to raise the garage door. “I told him to wait out there.”
As it lifted, Cullen appeared. He looked more at ease than I’d ever seen him.
“Hey, Theo.” He entered the garage as Mom retreated inside. “Sorry to just show up, but you weren’t at school and I had to thank you.”
He wrapped me in a hug, which was completely unexpected. I was glad he was happy, but I hardly knew him well enough for him to have this reaction.
“My dad got arrested yesterday afternoon for computer fraud, and I’m back with my mom as of a few hours ago.”
“That’s fantastic, man. Glad to hear it.”
Eddie looked confused but didn’t say anything.
“I don’t know how to repay you,” he said.
“I didn’t do anything.” I kept the knowledge I had a secret. “Like I said, there wasn’t anything I could do. I guess they just figured it out.”
“All I know is, I told you about the problem and it didn’t take long for it to disappear.”
“Maybe he’s just good luck.” Eddie came up and wrapped his arm around my waist.
“Maybe. Anyway I just wanted to let you know and thank you for whatever you may have done.”
“I’m glad it worked out,” I said.
“I’ll catch you around school. I’m gonna get going. Mom and I are celebrating.”
He looked behind him to a woman waiting in a beat-up blue car. She waved, and I raised my hand in greeting. He jogged off to the car.
“See ya.” I watched him go.
That’s awesome. TOS must’ve had someone in the right place who could fix the problem and find the needed evidence against his dad. I hadn’t been sure I should’ve talked about Cullen’s problems with Mom and Dad because it felt like TOS had larger issues to deal with, but it was good they helped out random people too.
“That was weird,” Eddie said.
“Nah.” I went to the rack and pulled the bike off. “It was good. Really good. They needed the help.”
I rolled the bike out of the garage before I mounted it.
“You’re done?”
“I think so. Only one way to know for sure.”
I tested the brakes, and they engaged like I knew they would. It was habit to make sure they worked before I took off. I pedaled very slowly and only picked up speed when I hit the slope in the driveway.
“Helmet!” Eddie called out.
I didn’t look back. “I’m not going far at all.”
I rolled into the street and picked up enough speed to click through gears. The seat was a little low, but that was an easy adjustment. Leaning over, I got the feel for the handlebars, both in the drop position and the higher one. It was good—or would be after the seat adjustment. I needed to tweak the gearing on the front sprocket, and then it would be perfect. I stood up from the seat and sped up more.
It felt good, the chilly air hitting my face.
I made a U-turn after I was about halfway down the block and cruised back to the driveway.
Eddie wore a frown as I rolled past him and back into the garage.
“Don’t you go being stupid, Theodore Reese. We’ve got a dance to go to and then an anniversary to celebrate. I don’t need you getting into an accident on your bike, especially without the helmet.”
“I won’t.” I reracked the bike. “I don’t wanna get in trouble with you.”
“Damn right you don’t.”
He hit the button for the garage door, and as it dropped, he peppered my lips with kisses.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I’D BEEN back and forth on whether or not to continue with TOS, but I’d decided on a firm yes while I was dancing with Eddie Saturday ni
ght.
There was no denying I enjoyed the work. However, I’d be okay not going into the field again. I’d turned the situation over in my head a number of times. While TOS might’ve been able to fix the chip problem without me, I’d played a key part in bringing that to a close. I couldn’t shake the idea that if I hadn’t been involved, Dad might not be around anymore.
“I’m glad you’re staying.” Lorenzo spoke from the screen above my head. “We make a good team. Plus I still need to beat you at Grand Theft Auto.”
“Yeah,” I said in a mocking tone, “that’s exactly why you keep me around.”
“That was a great analysis of the cloud data.” He switched topics away from the fact I owned him in GTA. “I couldn’t believe how tangled that was. They’d exploited areas we didn’t even know about.”
“Yeah. It’s hard to stop someone from talking if they want to.”
A former IT director, Lorenzo’s predecessor, had left TOS a few years ago because she wanted to go into private consulting. TOS let her go and created a background so she had good credentials to set up a business. But something had gone wrong in a background check run by a Blackbird-affiliated business and they figured out her cover. TOS couldn’t locate this woman now and it assumed she was either deep cover with Blackbird or dead. Agents, including Dad, were working on it.
More than once I thought about Blackbird knowing who I was and that they might come after me. There was nothing I could do about that, and I wasn’t going to hide. I could only do what the other exposed agents were—trying to be safe and careful.
Mom and Dad talked about moving, but so far it wasn’t clear if we would. Even though Blackbird had visibility on my chip for a few days, it was unknown how far up the chain the info had gone. Everyone from the IT facility was in custody, so they wouldn’t talk to anyone anytime soon. We had all the data, and based on the analysis, it didn’t look like they’d transmitted out too many details. It seemed like they were waiting to report an overall success, rather than piecemeal statuses.
For my part, I didn’t want to move, even if it was just to another house in the same town. This was home.
“I’ll have the security recommendations over to you later today to review,” Lorenzo said. “I made some tweaks to what you wrote and added some new recommendations from what we’ve been talking about here.”
“Cool. I’ll look that over tonight and get it back to you as fast as I can.”
We were working quickly to have new protocols in place for all the networked tech to safeguard against future breaches. Realistically there had to be systems in place to update protocols anytime someone left the organization by choice or otherwise. Lorenzo and I had already discussed the issue that my credentials weren’t immediately revoked upon my capture. He admitted he’d been too caught up to take those steps. We agreed that couldn’t happen again.
We’d been so focused on preventing hacks over the past couple of years, we didn’t take into account the more obvious people part of the equation, who could do damage if their knowledge got into the wrong hands.
There was a knock at the door.
“I gotta go. It’s time.”
“Okay, man. Talk to you later.”
Lorenzo’s image faded, replaced by one of my hockey player screen backgrounds—this one of the Detroit Red Wings’ captain Henrik Zetterberg, who was one good-looking guy.
I went to the door and found Dad and someone else. Based on the old-school bag he carried, he was the doctor who would be rechipping me. It was obvious Dad saw the doctor first because of the small bandage he had.
Nerves fluttered in my stomach. I didn’t like getting the last one out, and I wasn’t excited about another one going in.
“Come in.”
“Winger, this is Neptune,” Dad said. “He’ll be doing the procedure.”
I nodded and met the doctor’s hand that he extended.
“It’s good to meet you, Winger. I hear we owe you a lot.”
I’d gotten this from a few people I’d met since I’d been back from Denver, and I never knew what to say. “You’re welcome” seemed weird. It all seemed weird.
I gave a single nod. It’d become my go-to for this kind of thing, and it still made me uncomfortable.
“I’ll leave you to this,” Dad said. “I’ll be down in the office.”
Neptune opened his bag and removed a sheet, which he draped over my bed.
“Please lie down and we’ll get to it.”
At least this time I knew about the chip.
“I’m going to give you a local anesthetic, which will make your neck numb for the next several hours. We’ll give it a few minutes and then get to work.”
I nodded because I already knew the drill from getting the last chip out.
Every TOS agent was getting a new chip, which worked differently to keep it masked from the different nodes it connected to as it pinged back to TOS. It was a pretty snazzy upgrade Lorenzo had figured out based on some of the early work I’d done.
“Okay, Winger, you’re all set.” Neptune had me all sewn up in less than a half hour. “Your neck will feel numb for a few hours. Leave the dressing on at least overnight. If you want to keep the stitches covered, you can change it for a fresh one, but let the wound breathe at least a few hours a day. Plus you can use antiseptic ointment as well to help it heal faster. The stitches should dissolve within three days.”
“Sounds good.” I already knew the details, but I let him do his doctor thing. “Thank you.”
I walked him out of my room and downstairs. He headed for the door. I guess he didn’t need to see Dad again.
“Take care, Winger.”
“See you next week.”
He practically had the door closed before I finished. Whatever.
I went to the office. The door was open, but I knocked on the frame and waited for an acknowledgment, just in case anything was going on I shouldn’t see.
“Come on in,” Mom said.
It was comforting to find everyone here—Mom, Dad, and John. Everyone had the same bandage I did. Neptune had been busy while he was here.
“It’s weird we’re all bandaged the same.” I dropped myself into one of the chairs in front of Dad’s desk. “It’s like we’re all in the same cult.”
“We kinda are,” John said, and Dad chuckled. “I’m guessing the new chip for you means you’re staying on.”
“Yeah. The pros outweigh the cons. Plus there’s a lot of work to do on the internal systems now. That’s gonna be fun to tackle. So I was wondering….”
Mom and Dad turned focus on me, joining John who already was.
I took a moment. This was kinda big.
“Can I get some field training? Something so I’ll have a better idea what to do if something like this happens again.”
“Hopefully we won’t repeat this,” Mom said.
“He’s right, though, Katherine,” John said. “It wouldn’t hurt if he knew some basics. Defensive moves. More of our protocols if situations like this come up again. It’s not clear how many in Blackbird know who he is. It’d be good to have him ready. Just in case.”
Mom pursed her lips. She wasn’t happy. I know she’d hoped I’d hang up TOS. Dad looked conflicted.
“I’m not saying I want to know how to shoot a gun or anything.” I shuddered briefly at the idea. “But defense, protocols, and such. I was flying by the seat of my pants in Denver, and maybe that was part of the success. But the more I know procedure, the better I can improvise.”
“I’d be happy to teach him a little, off the record,” John said. “But some formal sessions wouldn’t hurt either.”
“Theo, I love that you want to protect yourself.” Dad let go a huge sigh. “At the same time, I hate that you have to think about it.”
“Me too.” I admitted the obvious.
“Let your mom and me discuss it a little, okay?”
I nodded, and Mom already looked relieved. Probably because she’d have a
chance to argue against it.
“I’m gonna head back upstairs and do some homework.”
“You around for dinner tonight?” Mom asked.
I thought a moment. “Yeah. No plans. Eddie’s got a lab thing going on, so we weren’t hanging or anything.”
“Family dinner tonight?” Mom looked between me and Dad.
“Thai?” Dad offered.
“Sure,” she said.
I liked where this was going.
“John, this includes you too.” I’d already assumed it did, but I’m glad Mom told him. “It’s been too long since we were all here at the same time.”
“I’m in,” I said enthusiastically as John nodded his acknowledgment.
She looked at the clock on her computer. “I’ll order in about an hour, so we’ll eat around seven.”
“Perfect. I’ll leave my door open so you can just shout up.”
She nodded, and they went back to their work as I headed to my room. It was exciting that, at least for this night, my less than normal family was going to do something completely normal.
JEFF ADAMS has written stories since he was in middle school and became a gay romance writer in 2009 when his first short stories were published. Since then he’s written several shorts and novels and he plans to keep writing as long as wonderful readers keeping picking up his books.
Jeff lives in rural northern California with his husband of twenty years, Will. Some of his favorite things include the musicals Rent and [title of show], the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins hockey teams, and the reality TV competition So You Think You Can Dance. If forced to pick his favorite book, it would be a tie between Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and David Levithan’s Every Day.
Jeff is the co-host of Jeff & Will’s Big Gay Fiction Podcast, a weekly show devoted to m/m romance as well as pop culture. New episodes come out every Monday at biggayfictionpodcast.com.
You can learn more about Jeff at jeffadamswrites.com.
By Jeff Adams
Tracker Hacker