by Adam Moon
The Doctor looked like he wanted to continue arguing but he decided against it.
Jack looked from one old man to the next. “So let me in there then.”
Chapter 38: Special Delivery
Oliver called for a guard over his walkie talkie.
The guard arrived in seconds and escorted Jack back around to the boy’s room. Jessie was now in the room next door to the one Jack had met him in earlier. That had to be confusing for the poor boy, like playing musical bedrooms or something.
The guard unlocked it and then left right away.
Jack lightly stepped inside the dark room on the balls of his feet. He walked over to the bed, sat down and leaned close to Jessie’s ear. He held the note up to read and started whispering.
When he was done, the room erupted in a cascade of light.
Jack had to put his arm over his eyes. The air around him chilled. When the light died down, he picked up the newly minted object and brought it back to the monitoring station.
The Doctor seemed annoyed. “Why couldn’t we hear you? Why were you whispering?”
Jack already had an answer for this even though he knew it was bullshit. “I didn’t want to wake him up.”
“You wouldn’t have,” insisted the Doc as he beckoned Jack to place the object on the table.
The weapon was tinted with yellow and black mottling and shaped like a half sphere with a flat bottom like a snow globe. It had a big red button right on top. Jack was surprised it didn’t have ACME written on it. It looked just that obvious.
They all gathered around it, staring.
Oliver shook his head after a full minute of silence.
“So what does it do?”
“Jack lifted it and felt its energy flow in and out of his fingertips. “It’ll do exactly what you wanted. When activated, it’ll kill everyone within a thousand square miles yet leave everything non human completely intact. You can test the energy inside with a meter. It also came with this handy-dandy manual.”
He dropped a single printed sheet of paper on the table that had schematics and formulas scrawled all across it.
“So there you go. It’ll do what you want. You have a working weapon. And if you can figure out the advanced physics behind how it works from the formulas then you have verification.”
The Doctor asked him to make another, but just then Jessie stirred awake and asked for a glass of water. Jack was thankful.
The old men were satisfied enough as it was. They decided they were done experimenting for now so they allowed Jack to retire for the night.
On the way up in the elevator Melanie asked, “So what is it really?”
Jack smiled as he answered. “An exact, verifiable weapon that won’t work when deployed. I asked Jessie to give me a benign replica of the weapon the old men asked for that would fool any tests to authenticate it. I wasn’t really sure it would work but when I held it I knew it had.”
That must have been misinterpreted as a convoluted come-on line or something because Melanie threw herself at him. He actually stumbled back into the steel wall of the elevator. She started kissing him just as the doors of the elevator opened.
Billy peeked around. He started to say, “Welcome back to the land of tomorrow,” but he whispered the last word at the sight of them. He hurried off down the corridor, unwilling to ruin the kiss by insisting upon procedure.
Jack saw this as a pretty perfect opportunity to get this beautiful woman to his apartment.
“Join me for a drink?”
“Yes.”
Chapter 39: Pillow talk
Surprisingly, the sex was mechanical, lacking any type of passion or eagerness. In a word, perfect. Too much passion sometimes made him finish too quickly and he didn’t need that for a first time encounter. Plus he liked to prolong his own enjoyment for as long as possible. It served as a release valve for both of them. Melanie was curvier than he’d expected which made her even more beautiful in his eyes. Only towards the end did he flip her over to let some of his animal urges take over. Either she came twice or she just enjoyed faking it.
Her eyes were glassy. Stray strands of hair stuck to her forehead by the time she rolled over and kissed him.
He was glad she’d let him take the lead with this. Up until that point she’d initiated all the contact. He sensed right away that this was just the first of many trysts still to come. He hoped he was right.
The pillow talk was actually more enjoyable than he expected. It wasn’t about feelings or past relationships or about getting hurt, at least not at first.
Right as the heavy breathing slowed she asked in a far away voice, “Where do you think all the objects and animals come from?”
“I’ve tried really hard not to dwell on that.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t believe in the supernatural. But there’s just no other explanation.”
She paused in thought. “I guess you’re right. I don’t think science could unravel that mystery. But if you were to believe in the supernatural, where would you say they came from?”
“From his dreams I guess. But that just leads to further questions like how and why and those are unanswerable.”
“I wonder if anyone has ever asked Jessie.”
“I would imagine so. He must have shit-loads of questions about all of this.”
She changed the subject a bit.
“So when you say you don’t believe in the supernatural, does that include God?”
Oh, here we go, he thought. “Are you religious?”
“Not in the conventional sense. I was just curious.”
“Good. I guess I don’t want to believe in God. If there was proof that God really did exist, I would do my best to deny it. If there’s a God then he has only stolen from me.”
“You’ve lost family too right? It seems like a common thread around here.”
“I lost my family when I was young. Who did you lose?”
“My folks and two little brothers died in a fire at our house. I was at a sleep over otherwise the smoke would have killed me too. It’s funny though, I don’t appreciate it the way other people want me to. They say I’m lucky and that maybe God had a plan for me but I would only agree if that plan didn’t start out with the deaths of everyone I cared for.” She paused. “Sorry, I don’t normally get so preachy.”
“It’s ok. I think we have some things in common. There’s a vicious part of me that wants there to be a God so I have someone to blame and hate. It was my uncle who took me in and taught me that if God does exist he doesn’t deserve our attention. He told me he turned atheist after what happened. After my teenage years when I was able to think for myself I became an atheist too. It’s weird because when I first realized that there was no afterlife, it became an obsession of mine the same way religion’s an obsession for other people. I became militant about it but I burned myself out pretty quick. I don’t think about it much these days.”
“That boy downstairs sure makes me think about it.”
Jack nodded grimly. “I suppose so.”
A couple of important things became apparent to him right then. Those people at his apartment had mentioned their savior or messiah. He now understood they must have been referring to the boy. Those trigger happy goons were probably searching for the gifted child at this very moment.
Just thinking about the possibility that the boy was actually some kind of Christ child made him nauseous. Any explanation, no matter how bizarre, was better than that. He realized that with everything that had happened to him these past few days, he’d nearly forgotten that just a couple days ago he was shot at and damn near kidnapped. He was about to brag about it to Melanie but she had something more important to say.
“Enough of the mushy pillow-talk you smooth Lothario. Wanna go again?”
He did.
Chapter 40: Day Six
When his alarm went off Melanie was already gone.
He hadn’t had the dream so he hadn’t p
issed the bed; that would’ve surprised her to say the least.
His heart skipped a little ditty when he thought about last night. He couldn’t wait to see her at two o’clock.
He showered and met Billy at the door. Billy was all smiles and innuendo as they walked to the dining room for breakfast.
“A gentleman never tells,” said Jack with a smile, knowing that by saying this he was affirming Billy’s suspicions.
Billy clapped him on the back.
“Good for you. It’s been four months since the last time I saw any action.”
“Don’t they let you out for like mental health reasons or anything; you know, like conjugal visits?”
“No. I don’t have a girl on the outside but the truth is, if they let me I’d pay for it at this point.”
Jack laughed. It had been a long time for him too so he understood the desperation.
“Maybe Melanie has a friend who’s desperate. I can always ask.”
“Is that her name? I haven’t seen her up on this level until you came along. Maybe they keep hundreds of female guards like her on the off-limits levels. It’s a frickin sausage fest up here. Yeah, ask if she has a pal who’d like to meet a dashing Brad Pitt look-alike with abs of steel and a heart of gold.”
Billy laughed at himself and Jack laughed too. Jack was glad they’d smoothed everything over. Billy was the first friend he’d made since Samantha had chased all his old buddies off. What a bitch she was, he just now fully realized.
After breakfast he started in on his bio again just to keep the General off his back.
He was beginning to understand that he was becoming far more important to the team than anyone else he’d met so far but he also kept his obligations; it was a flaw of his.
He reread what he’d already written and cringed a couple times.
He decided this was the time to wrap it up and be done with it. Talking about ones self is boorish to the extreme.
He began:
While hopping from one hopeless job to the next I met Samantha. She wasn’t my first post university girlfriend but she shaped me the most, all in bad ways.
But in the beginning she was great. She was beautiful and smart.
Over time she became a soul crushing juggernaut who could not be stopped or reasoned with but I’m getting ahead of myself. The worst part’s that I saw it coming and I let it happen.
Now that’s pathetic.
A knock at the door put a stop to his typing.
The General walked in and closed the door. He slipped behind Jack to see what he was working on and for some reason Jack felt ashamed. That was stupid though because the General was seeing all of this anyway.
“I’m glad you’re still working on that biography Jack. I was sure you’d quit before now.”
This pissed Jack off a little. He and the General didn’t see eye to eye but that didn’t mean Jack was flawed. Jack had dealt with shitheads like this before; they thought they were perfect so if you didn’t agree with them or if you simply didn’t get along, they’d automatically assume you were weaker or less substantial than they are.
The General clapped a hand on his shoulder and Jack shuddered. This was a new tactic. That couldn’t bode well for what the General was about to impart.
“Listen pal, I’m going to have to restrict your access to the outside from now on.”
Jack half turned in his seat and blurted, “The fuck you will…”
The General added emphatically, “You had privileges before because all you had access to were the objects and this office but now you’re seeing things downstairs I can’t even fathom. What I do know is that they are so secretive that no one with access is allowed to leave the premises.”
Jack would have refused to go down there in the first place had someone forewarned him about this.
He wondered how long it had been since Melanie or Oliver had been outside the gates.
“When does this take effect?”
“The Doctor insists that since you weren’t warned in advance about any of this that you should be allowed a one day pass to take care of whatever you need. You’ll be escorted of course.
“So when am I supposed to do this?”
“I need you to do it today.” He paused and grinned wickedly. “I’ll understand if you decide to waive the opportunity since you were given so little notice and since your workload’s so immense.”
Fuck you asshole, is what Jack should have said.
Instead he said, “I want to choose my own escort this time.”
The General furrowed his brow and studied Jack’s face.
“Why? What’s wrong with William?”
“He’s great but there’s a guard downstairs you may or may not have met. I’d love to show her where I’m from.”
The General nodded knowingly.
“That might be tricky because she’s technically never supposed to leave since she works below. Any other escort from these upper floors has clearance so long as I approve.”
“No thanks. I want her so long as she agrees to it. If you need to get approval from the Doc I can wait.”
The General kept his composure but Jack knew him well enough already to see that he was furious underneath his calm mask.
“The Doctor thought you might say something like that. I’ll have her come and get you in ten minutes. Billy will be coming with as a back-up. We can’t have another incident like last time, now can we?”
Jack caught the inferred attempt to place the blame on him for that fiasco at his apartment but that was just childish on the General’s part. He’d never met those people before. In fact, they wouldn’t have come after him in the first place if the General hadn’t hired him, bringing him to their attention.
When he thought about it a bit more though, he was glad for the extra protection. He didn’t know how his would-be kidnappers had found out about the boy even before he knew of the boy’s existence. That fact alone made him weary about going outside unprotected. He also imagined vividly what they’d do to him to make him give up the child’s location.
Before he could ask for even more armed escorts the General had already left.
Chapter 41: Day Pass
Melanie was practically bouncing up and down in the driver’s seat. “I haven’t been out in nearly a year. I’m surprised I remember how to drive.”
Jack felt like a hero. Billy had taken up the rear in a second SUV.
As the drive dragged on and on her enthusiasm remained.
She had the window rolled down and the sunroof open to get her hair flying.
She glanced at Jack every few minutes with a big dopey smile on her face. She messed with the radio stations until it became grating.
It was funny how too much joy in someone else could be irritating. Then again, he could only imagine what it must have been like to be caged up for so long. It must be like getting out of prison.
He was sure he’d know exactly how desperate it felt a year from now. Maybe they’d keep him locked in longer than that. The thought frightened him but he crammed it to the back of his mind.
“It’s a beautiful day for a drive, huh?”
She smiled sinfully. “It’s a good thing they sent the other guy to follow us or I’d say we just keep on driving until we hit Tahiti and never come back.”
He imagined his newly swollen bank account mingled with her savings would be more than sufficient to get them by no matter where they went.
But he knew nothing about going on the run. He was a by-the-book guy like everyone else. He was the kind of guy who would make a serious error almost right away and get them caught. And then what? The General might decide he was important enough to drag back but Melanie was just a guard, a good one, but replaceable. And he knew what happened when someone under contract breached it. The General hadn’t minced words about that. She’d be eliminated.
She added, “I need to learn not to just blurt out my fantasies. This truck’s probably bugged.” Louder she sa
id, “I was just joking about Tahiti.”
He snickered. It was too bad though, he’d love to see her on the beach under the vibrant sun, wearing nothing but a string bikini. Then he imagined her like that but with a gun in each hand. Now that would be a sight.
They’d driven now for nearly three hours and for the first time Jack had to wonder why. He had nothing he cared to put in order from his old boring life. If the General hadn’t just told him that this was his only opportunity to leave he wouldn’t have gone back.
He looked over at Melanie and he was glad he had; she was radiant.
Maybe he’d box up a couple keepsakes just for show. Maybe he could get Billy to take a walk so he could get a little alone time with Melanie too.
They parked beside each other when they finally arrived at the parking lot outside his apartment.
Billy got out first. He asked Jack for his door key and strode off with purpose toward the entryway. He was a man on a mission. They remained seated until he returned to give them the all clear.
When Jack saw his front door, at first he was puzzled by the ‘Do not cross’ yellow police tape but then he remembered that shots had been fired in there just a couple days ago; surely a neighbor must have reported it.
Billy ducked under it but Jack tore it off; it was still his apartment.
The place had been ransacked but he didn’t know enough about police procedure to conclude that the cops had done this. Maybe the kidnappers had just enough time to go through all his shit before the cops arrived.
He didn’t care as much as his two escorts assumed he would. They looked like they were just waiting for the opportunity to comfort him but none of these possessions meant anything to Jack. As long as his photos weren’t torn to shreds or missing and his old dream journal was still here he’d be alright.
He found them right away.
The journal was personal, peppered with little rants and insecurities, plus he’d written everything down as he’d seen it in his adolescent dreams whether it was shameful or not. But nearly twenty years later it was embarrassing to the max. He was only taking it so no one else would find it.