“It’s too bad I can only stay for a short while,” Olivia said. “Only until the end of the week.”
“Can you extend your stay?” Kiana asked. “Just a little? Please?”
Olivia shook her head. “Unfortunately, I can’t. I’ve got some important business I’ve got to take care of.”
Kiana was sad since she didn’t want Olivia to leave (ever), but Michael came to her aid. “I’ll get you some airline tickets, Olivia, with open dates, so you can fly back to Seattle whenever you want. And later in the week, maybe tomorrow if you want, we can all go shopping. I want you to get some stuff and convert the guest bedroom into your own. That way you’ll feel completely at home when you do have time to return.”
The rest of the day was a complete blast. The game was at Safeco Field, which was a really nice and contemporary ballpark in Seattle’s SoDo district, and Kiana was impressed because it had a sliding roof that covered the entire field and could open or close depending on the weather. Jacen met them at one of Safeco’s main entrances and Kiana introduced him to Olivia, and the first chance Olivia got when he wasn’t looking she leaned over and whispered in Kiana’s ear, “He’s soooooooooo cute.” They all got hotdogs, and hamburgers, and nachos covered with extra cheese and jalapeños, then they made their way to their seats.
“Hopefully,” Michael said, “we’ll see you playing here in a few years, Jacen. After Stanford.”
“Hopefully,” Jacen said.
The only bad part of the game was the fact the Mariners were playing the Angels. Since Kiana had grown up in Anaheim, the Angels had always been her favorite team so she didn’t know who to root for, her old team or her new team, so she really just rooted for both. It was a fun time and Kiana couldn’t help but sit there and think about how much her life had changed in such a short period of time. For most of her life, her family had just been her and Michael. But now there were three of them, including Olivia, and five if you counted Christine and Jacen. They definitely weren’t a traditional family, by any means, but she liked it nonetheless.
Chapter 44
The rest of the week was more of the same. Kiana spent most of her time with her family, trying to have as much fun as possible with Olivia before her return to Australia. Like Michael had proposed, they went shopping and he bought Olivia some stuff so she could convert the guest bedroom into her own. Kiana helped her pick out some new drapes and a bunch of sheets and blankets for her bed, plus a new desk and dresser, and it was great fun. It took them over an hour to put the dresser together since it had a million different parts but it was fun nonetheless. And then later in the week they had dinner with Holley again, and that was kind of strange since Christine was there so Michael had his current and prior girlfriends both sitting at the table with him, but even so everyone was cordial and it was another good night.
But one of the best nights, at least as far as Kiana was concerned, was the night before Olivia’s departure to Sydney. Jacen invited them over to hang out with his friends, which Kiana thought was a great idea since it would give her and Olivia a little change of pace since they had spent most of the week hanging out with adults, and as any sixteen or nineteen year old girl will tell you, that gets old after a while. So they went over to John’s house, which was the same place Jacen had taken Kiana on their first date. Kiana could still see every detail of that night vividly in her mind, especially the moment when they had been playing Ultra 7 and Jacen had kissed her.
As far as she was concerned, they definitely needed to play that game again.
Like the first time, there were a bunch of people there, mostly the same crowd as the first time, including Jamal, John, Francis, and Rochelle, but also a couple of new people including a girl named Janice James who was a freshman at Jackson and also two boys named Hugh Fredrickson and Grant Tucker who were sophomores at Glacier Peak. Kiana introduced everyone to Olivia, and of course all of the boys went gaga over her the minute they saw her, and at one point a little later in the night Kiana overheard John tell Francis, “I didn’t think it could get any better than Kiana. But an older sister? She’s so hot.” The boys basically started drooling all over themselves every time Olivia looked at them, and whenever she said she was thirsty, they made a mad dash (usually several at once) to the kitchen to get her something.
But there was one part of the night that got a little uncomfortable and actually caught Kiana totally by surprise. The weather was nice so they were all sitting on the patio in the back yard, talking, when John asked Olivia if she was like Kiana and knew any taekwondo.
“I’ve been known to throw a few kicks on occasion,” Olivia said.
“Do the two of you ever fight one another?”
“No. But I guess we could sometime.”
“I’ve got to see it,” Jamal said. “I’ve got to see the two of you spar. If you’re even half as good as Kiana it will be quite a show.”
At first, Kiana and Olivia were both against it but the boys were adamant (and persistent) and John actually got down on his knees and begged so finally they both agreed and decided to give it a try. They hopped up, removed their shoes, and took places across from one another on the patio, directly across from everyone else. Kiana really just planned to do a couple of simple moves, at half speed, then call it good (she didn’t think it would take much more than that to impress the boys and she didn’t want to risk hurting Olivia). But that didn’t happen at all. Olivia threw a couple of quick punches, which were much faster than Kiana had anticipated, and Kiana was barely able to block them in time. Kiana then countered with a couple of punches of her own but Olivia knocked them to the side easily.
Wow, Kiana thought. She’s much better than I anticipated.
Kiana thought she’d be a beginner or maybe even slightly advanced, but at the same time nowhere near Kiana’s level (after all, few people were). But Olivia was. She was lightning quick, had perfect form, and, other than Master Gwon, was the best fighter Kiana had ever faced. In an attempt to ascertain exactly how good she was, Kiana turned up the intensity a little and sent a wicked snap kick her way, but Olivia blocked it effortlessly and retaliated by trying to sweep Kiana’s feet out from under her. Kiana jumped over the sweep, then tried to counter with a jab to Olivia’s stomach, but Olivia blocked the jab and tried to hit Kiana with a roundhouse. Kiana ducked the roundhouse and followed with an uppercut. From there, they battled one another from one side of the patio to the other, exchanging blow after blow, and the boys sat there in complete awe. They had never seen anything like it and to them the girls were little more than a blur of fast and furious action.
Finally, Jacen had to step forward and put an end to it.
“Ladies. That was great but I think we’ve seen enough.”
At that, the fight came to an abrupt end and they all laughed as John wiped his brow with a napkin and said, “That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. I’m gonna go take a shower. A really cold one.”
Kiana turned to Olivia. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean for it to get so intense but I didn’t expect you to be so good.”
Olivia smiled at her. “No worries. You’re pretty good yourself, little sister. I’m impressed.”
Kiana was about to say something more when John interrupted them. “Would the two of you ever consider doing that again, but maybe this time in bikinis? Or spandex? I’d really like to see that.”
Everyone laughed and Jacen chased him away.
Kiana had only met John a couple of times but already she had figured out that he was the group’s wild one. In her experience, every group of guys had one. He was the guy who made the funniest comments and did the goofiest things.
It was at that point she realized Jamal had the Ultra 7 game in one hand and he was just about to set it up on the dining room table. She turned to Olivia.
“You’ve got to try this game. It’s so fun.”
Olivia followed her into the dining room and they got seats at the table right next to one another. Jamal shuffled the cards
and dealt them as everyone explained the rules to Olivia, who had never heard of Ultra 7 before.
“I don’t think we have this game in Australia.”
“It’s great,” Kiana said. “It’s really exciting and you never know what’s going to happen next.”
Play started from there and like always it was great fun. Everyone (except John) cheered as Jamal played a ROLL card and John was forced to draw six cards. But then they cheered even louder when John played a TRADE card and was able to switch hands with Grant. It was an especially good move since John had fifteen cards and Grant only had two. But like always, the biggest laughs happened whenever someone played a GRAB card. Without exception, spoons and cards went flying and bodies ended up on the floor. But the funniest part of all was when, right at the conclusion of one of the scrambles, John looked over at Kiana and Olivia.
“No way!” he said.
Much to everyone’s surprise, Kiana had two spoons in her hand (just like she had done the first time they had played), and Olivia had two spoons, too.
At that, they made a new ‘house’ rule. Neither Kiana nor Olivia was allowed to grab more than one spoon per round. Otherwise, no one else had a chance. Kiana and Olivia laughed but they quickly acquiesced since all they wanted to do was have a good time.
But after a while, Kiana noticed something was wrong. So far, no one had played a single DARE card.
“Where are the DARE cards? They’re my favorite.”
No one had to ask her why. They all knew.
In response to her question, Jamal added the DARE cards to the play deck and just like the first time Kiana had played, the game got even better than before. Everyone groaned and Kiana’s stomach got a little queasy as Hugh played a DARE card and said, “I dare Grant to smell John’s armpit.” Without hesitation Grant did it and it was extremely gross since John’s armpit was really sweaty, which was undoubtedly the result of an earlier tug-of-war he had had with Jamal over one of the spoons.
Shortly after that, Jamal played a DARE card and said, “I dare John to fart, right here, right now. And it’s got to be a firecracker.”
“A firecracker?” Kiana asked. She had never heard that term before.
“He knows what it is. He’ll show you.”
Without further ado, John let loose. And it was really nasty. It wasn’t just one fart, it was a series of them, each short and quick, and some louder than the others. And every time Kiana thought it was over, another one would go off. Just like firecrackers.
They laughed hysterically when he finally finished but unfortunately they had to stop the game and leave the room for several minutes to give it time to air out properly. In the meantime, John had to go to the bathroom to wipe his butt.
“You Yanks are hilarious,” Olivia said. “I’ve never played a game like this before. It’s great.” She looked down and saw her glass was empty, then looked up at the boys. “Darn. Looks like I’m dry again.”
There was an instant scramble as Grant and Hugh rushed to the kitchen to get her something.
Olivia turned to Kiana. There was a big smile on her face.
“I love it when they do that.”
Ten minutes later the game resumed and finally it got to the point Kiana had been waiting for all night. Rochelle played a DARE card, then shot a quick glance at Kiana, then one at Jacen.
Please, Kiana thought. Do what you did last time. Dare Jacen to kiss me.
Unfortunately, however, Rochelle did something significantly different.
“I dare Jacen to kiss Olivia.”
Kiana’s heart stopped. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Jacen wouldn’t actually do it, would he? There was no way he would kiss Kiana’s own sister.
Jacen smiled at Rochelle, then turned to Olivia. “No offense, Olivia, because you’re really pretty and I imagine a lot of guys would kill to kiss you, but I can’t do it.”
Kiana’s heart raced. It was exactly the answer she had been hoping for.
But, much to her surprise, it wasn’t quite over.
“Would you do it,” Rochelle asked, “if Kiana allowed it? And if she promised she wouldn’t get upset in any way?”
All heads, including Kiana’s, turned to Jacen.
This is getting really interesting, Kiana thought. What will he say?
“No. I wouldn’t. It’s not my style.”
“You suck,” John said. He turned to Rochelle. “I’ll do it. Dare me. I’ll kiss Olivia right now. Several times if you want.”
Rochelle shook her head and the round was officially over. Jacen was forced to draw two cards as a penalty since he didn’t complete the dare but it was clear he didn’t care at all. A few minutes later, when he went to the kitchen to refill his drink, Olivia leaned over and whispered in Kiana’s ear, “He’s a keeper.”
The rest of the night was more of the same and at one point John even got on his knees and begged Rochelle to dare him to kiss Olivia, but as far as Kiana was concerned, nothing quite topped that moment. Kiana had always known Jacen was special, but with each passing day, he got even more so.
Chapter 45
The next day, Holley came by the house and picked up Olivia and the two of them headed for Sea-Tac airport for their flight back to Sydney. Everyone, especially Kiana, was sad to see Olivia go. If Kiana could have had her way Olivia would have stayed with them forever.
Regardless, she had little time to mourn Olivia’s departure for her phone buzzed and it was a text message from Beckman. “Report to my office immediately.” Michael and Christine had received the same message so they hopped in Michael’s car and headed for the USIA headquarters in Bellevue.
Thirty minutes later, they were sitting in Beckman’s office, as usual directly across the desk from her. She handed them a photo. It was of a man in his early to mid-sixties. He had a thick, gray beard and a head that was much too big for his body (to Kiana, it looked almost comical, as though he were some type of deranged comic book character). He wore a white laboratory coat and a badge that had his name printed on it.
“This is Dr. Charles Zander. He’s widely considered one of the world’s most talented and knowledgeable brain surgeons. At the same time, however, he is also one of the most unstable and dangerous men in the world.”
“Why do you say that?” Michael asked.
“For years, he was the lead on research teams that were studying Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Thanks to Zander’s research and theories, and his team’s experiments, cures for both were thought to be right around the corner. Unfortunately, however, there was an incident and Zander was never quite the same thereafter.”
“What kind of incident?” Kiana asked.
“As part of their research, Zander and his team had developed a serum, supposedly a potential cure of some sort, but apparently it had had inconsistent results and at times had shown some serious side effects. As such, Zander could not get clearance to begin human testing. Frustrated and impatient, he injected himself with it.”
“What happened?” Christine asked.
“Apparently, he changed dramatically. He became short-tempered, obsessive, paranoid at times, and even violent. After a few months the company he worked for transferred him to another project because his fellow team members refused to deal with him any further. At that point, however, his company still had faith in him since he had been such a prominent and promising scientist once. They wouldn’t allow him to continue his work on Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s, but in an attempt to keep him from leaving and joining a rival company, they gave him the freedom to begin a new project. They were happy at first, for about a year, because, surprisingly, he seemed to embrace the idea and apparently dove headfirst into it. Unfortunately, however, they were finally forced to fire him when they discovered the true nature of his new project.”
They all waited anxiously for her to continue.
“Zander created a zombie.”
At first, Kiana almost laughed out loud. Was Beckman playing a j
oke on them? Kiana had only known her for a short time, and she had always seemed pretty serious, especially during briefings, so she doubted it, but at the same time she couldn’t be serious, could she? Zombies were fictitious creatures from books and movies. There was no way to create a real one. Was there?
Apparently, Christine had had the same reaction. “Excuse me? Did I hear you correctly? Did you say a zombie?”
“I did. No one knows how or why, but one day in his lab, Zander brought a cadaver back to life. The reports from his coworkers are inconsistent and cryptic, but they claim the corpse was fully animated for at least five minutes. During that time, however, it was extremely hostile and dangerous. It attacked and killed one of Zander’s assistants. When the shareholders at the company found out what Zander had done, and what he had been working on the whole time, they terminated him.”
“That’s one of the weirdest things I’ve ever heard,” Christine said.
“Me, too,” Kiana said.
“I don’t know,” Michael said, turning to Christine. “That mission we went on a few years back, the one in Germany, that was pretty weird, too.”
Kiana raised an eyebrow. What in the world was he talking about? “Germany?”
“Christine and I were sent on a mission to investigate a scientist named Dieter Neumann who had developed a method of creating and cloning genetically enhanced soldiers. He had an entire laboratory filled with them, in these large, cylindrical tanks, and he intended to use them to conquer Europe. By doing so, he felt he could restore Germany to its proper ‘place of glory’ as the center of the world.”
“Freaky,” Kiana said. “What happened?”
“With the help of the German authorities we found the laboratory and destroyed it. But man those clones were weird. They all looked exactly alike. It was like looking at twins multiplied by a thousand.”
Beckman sat forward in her chair. “I, too, have encountered some strange things in my time. This one time, when I was on an assignment in Jamaica, I met a witch doctor who had voodoo dolls that actually worked. He’d light one on fire and your skin would start to get warm. I’ve never seen anything like it and I’ve never been able to explain it. It was really creepy.”
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