by C. S Luis
But I don’t think she believed me as she stared up at me, trying so hard to see the truth in my eyes. And we both knew she was trying but could not because of the device around my wrist that would not allow her inside my mind. It was far too soon to allow her. I didn’t want her to see the evil things I had done. I was a weak man. I wouldn’t be able to keep those things from her. She would tear me open, and I would lose myself to her. I knew it as she stared at me.
“I’m not going anywhere, okay?” I told her, and she managed a smile as I tenderly stroked her cheek. Then my cell phone rang again, and Claudia stared up at me. I knew what she was thinking. I couldn’t move. I only hoped that it wasn’t Bryce, but, of course, The Man in White didn’t call once he had already done so.
I answered the phone. “John,” Michael said.
“Michael,” I said out loud so Claudia knew who I was talking to. She seemed relieved.
“Yes, Michael. No, I just wanted to take Claudia out for a bit and catch up. We’re here at Pappadeaux; we just finished having lunch. Oh, well, I didn’t realize what time it was. Wow, you’re right,” I said, looking at the time. It was already four in the afternoon.
“I guess we can head back; although, I promised Claudia we’d go to the museum, but we’ll head back now if you need us to.” I smiled over at Claudia. “Oh, I didn’t realize that, so they’re closed on Mondays? And the Museum of Natural Science?” I asked.
“I see, well I guess we’re heading back…paper work? What kind of paper work? Oh, seems easy enough; okay I guess we’ll head back then. No of course I haven’t forgotten our plans this evening. We’re heading back. Okay then, see you in a bit.” I dropped the phone into my pocket.
“Looks like we have to cut our trip short; the museum is closed today, and the other one closed at four,” I said to her, and she looked disappointed.
“I can’t believe how fast the day went by,” Claudia softly said, and she looked up at me.
“We still have tonight,” I said to her. “If you’d like, you can keep me company when we get back,” I offered. “Michael said I have paperwork he wants me to work on.”
I didn’t want the day to end. I didn’t want to think of work. I turned my head over to her still with my back flat on the car seat. “We need to do this again,” I said with a smile, and she agreed, smiling back at me and then looking down.
“I really enjoyed your company, Miss Belle,” I added.
“Me too,” Claudia whispered, looking up at me. I was caught in the moment, staring at her as she blushed. I sat up, putting the car in reverse and pulling out of the parking space.
We arrived at Milton fairly quickly, and I helped Claudia out of the car. The parking lot was empty. We had missed the entire school day.
We stopped at the assistant principal’s office. Ms. Erickson had already gone, and I was a bit relieved that even Claudia noticed the look on my face. She shyly smiled up at me. God, she looked beautiful standing there, such an innocent girl, holding her to-go box and staring up at me. My lady, my girl, she deserved much more and certainly not me.
I was rubbish. I was no good for her, but it didn’t stop me from wanting to be near her, from wanting to protect her from everything I knew was out there. The things they did to people like her with special abilities were horrifying.
The things I did.
But had I ever done anything but hunt them? I was bad, and it saddened me that I had done such things.
For the first time, John, really? This girl has fucked you up, my man!
She had.
As we came in, Michael was coming out of Mr. Claypool’s office, and they both spotted us coming into the office like two teenagers that had skipped class.
“His first day, and he’s already missing work,” Mr. Claypool humored. I winked up at him with a smile, allowing Claudia ahead of me. She was carrying the things she had bought from the art store as well as her box with her leftovers from Pappadeaux.
It looked like Ed Harris was on his way out. He had a briefcase in hand and a suit coat in the other. I was surprised he even had a suit to go with the rest of his outfit. But he wasn’t wearing it as he closed his office door behind him while Michael stepped aside, and then he came alongside me and patted my shoulder.
“We’ll get you tomorrow, John,” he offered and waved back to both Claudia and Michael and then disappeared out of the office.
“Goodnight, James. See you tomorrow,” I politely said in response.
Claudia stood alongside Michael as I came and opened my office door. I entered with Michael and Claudia following behind. Michael immediately came to the desk and dropped a large file of documents on it. I glanced up at him. I hadn’t even noticed the file in his hands.
“What’s this?” I asked, glancing at the large folder of documents.
“Just something to get your hands wet,” he suggested.
“Wet?” I said with a smile and winked over at Claudia. “Looks like I’ll drown from the size of this folder,” I humored, and Claudia started laughing.
“You’re good at crunching the numbers, John, and I would really appreciate the help. I’d give it to Mr. Vasquez and Mr. Claypool, but I think you are better at this than they are,” Michael added. “I’m way up to my head in paperwork, and I also have Mr. Vasquez and Mr. Claypool working on something else. I can’t afford to fall behind on this.”
I grinned. “Well, math was one of my favorite subjects,” I lied.
“Good,” Michael replied. “Also, I’m giving you a few teacher evaluations if that’s alright?”
“Sure,” I said, curling a brow, unsure of what he wanted.
“It’s fairly easy, Mr. Slater,” Claudia offered from beside Michael, noting the expression of confusion on my face.
“You just have to sit in the classroom while they’re conducting class and grade them on their performance,” she very simply said.
How did she know that? I felt like an idiot. God, I liked how she did that.
You like that she makes you feel like an idiot, John?
John was no longer in control, and oddly enough, I kind of liked it. But, of course she had to know; she had been around school officials long enough to learn the ropes. She could teach me a few things.
John, check!
I grinned at her. “Can she be my assistant?” I asked Michael, pointing a finger over at Claudia, and she blushed.
“In all seriousness, John. It will really help me out a lot,” Michael added.
“No problem, Michael; that’s why I’m here.”
Sort of, I thought.
I looked over at Claudia as Michael moved to the entrance of my office and pointed at her. “I’m serious,” I said. “You can be my assistant.” Michael turned back around. She merely giggled as now I looked over at Michael.
“I’ll get to those right away, boss,” I offered in my most professional tone.
“I hope you can start on them today. Just a bit of course before we see you tonight at the house.”
“Oh, sure I can do that,” I said, looking back at the stack with regret.
“The evaluations can wait for tomorrow, but I’ll need them by the end of the month,” Michael said
“But, Michael, that’s only one week; we’re off the next two weeks,” Claudia interrupted. It was when she said it that I realized how true that was.
I had returned at the very end of November. Christmas was upon us, and so was the beginning of the following year. But this time, I wouldn’t be spending another Christmas or New Years alone if I could help it. I planned to make the best of those two weeks.
“You should be okay, John. I gave Mr. Vasquez and Mr. Claypool most of the evaluations. I just want you to get an idea of how to do them,” Michael said. “You’ll have to eventually learn, you know.” He smiled and then looked directly at me. In fact, he was looking at both Claudia and me.
“So, how was the outing today?” He asked, regarding our disappearance.
“It w
as wonderful!” Claudia said.
“I see you got some shopping done,” Michael said, noticing the bag and box in her hands.
“Yes, Mr. Slater took me to the art store and—-”
“I’m referring to the necklace you’re wearing,” Michael said, pointing at my gift to Claudia; he looked up at me in question.
“I wanted to get her something nice. I believe she deserved it,” I simply said, but I could see he wasn’t comfortable with that. I’m not sure if it was the idea of such an expensive gift or if he was worried about something else.
“It looks expensive,” Michael said, stepping over in front of Claudia and lifting the necklace from her neck and then looking over at me, again in question.
“Price doesn’t matter. I wanted her to have it,” I offered, but he looked troubled, and I realized I probably shouldn’t have said that.
“I can’t have her accept this,” he very plainly said, and Claudia stared up at him in disagreement.
“But, Michael!” She objected.
He looked worried. “I can’t have people getting the wrong idea,” he very clearly said. I blinked at him.
“Wrong idea?” I replied. But I didn’t think he wanted to say it. Michael wasn’t bold enough to admit it, that the wrong idea was the obvious truth I was hiding from myself and everyone else.
I came over and pulled him aside. “It’s just a gift,” I softly whispered.
“Well, it’s far too expensive of a gift,” Michael said. “And you’re an educator now. There are just some things that can’t be done. This being one of them.” He glared at me as he said this. It made me nervous; he had truly thought it was something else.
I curiously stared at him. “John, I know you mean well. But I’ve seen good teachers get bad reputations for far less. And I don’t want it to happen to you or at my school.”
“I really want her to have it,” I insisted, but it was Claudia that suddenly stopped us short from discussing it further.
“Michael’s right, Mr. Slater. I can’t accept this. I don’t want to cause problems or for you to get in trouble for something like this.” She held the necklace in her hand up to me.
I stared motionless back at her, refusing to take it. And when I didn’t, Michael took it from her hand and placed it in my palm and then patted my shoulder. Claudia walked over to the door with Michael; with her head hung down, she staggered beside him.
Then she turned back around. “Thanks for taking me to the art store and for lunch,” she offered. “I really enjoyed our time together today.”
I nodded. “Not a problem, sweetheart,” I managed to say, feeling the necklace in my hand. I felt rejected, not by her, but by the world around us. The time wasn’t right. I guess Michael was right; his words rang some truth.
He looked back at me. “I’ll be in my office working on a few things before I leave; can you get to work on those documents right away?”
I nodded. “Not a problem,” I whispered, wishing Claudia would stay, but I noticed Michael pushing her out the door, even though she seemed to want to. I merely smiled back at her as she disappeared with Michael, and I heard the door closing.
* * *
After that, I put the necklace in my coat pocket, dropping myself behind the desk and staring at the file in front of me. I pushed it aside for now. The laptop faced me, its cursor blinking back at me. I clicked on the screen, and a message popped up immediately. It was a recorded message. I suspected the Man in White, but the file was encrypted and coming from another source.
I clicked on it. A very bad recording popped up, and I stopped it and immediately rose to close the door, looking out as I did, and then I hurried to my desk. I clicked on the recorded message.
“John!” I caught the sound of the voice. “It’s Jason. I got the information you wanted; sorry for the lack of video on this damn thing. Dammit John, what did you get yourself into? I couldn’t recall the name at first, but then it hit me. I knew it. I knew that name from somewhere…Nicholas Belle, the one you asked about.”
“Yeah, yeah give it to me, Jason,” I impatiently said.
“You’re not gonna believe this, but this guy was employed by The Company. The same company you and I work for; he was seriously important, John. I mean very big, adopted by The Company’s very own founder, Vladimir Valentine.”
I hissed, “Fucking shit.”
“Yeah fucking shit is right, John!” Jason repeated. “Not only was he a minder, but he was also a minder working for The Company. No wonder those bastards know things others don’t. But any way…”
“Yeah, come on Jason,” I impatiently uttered.
“What’s your interest in this guy anyway, John? Does it have anything to do with the name Vega you had me look for? And for the love of God, don’t tell me it has anything to do with the Belles. Wait, of course it does.” There was laughter. “That doesn’t surprise me,” he whispered, and his voice got serious. There was a pause.
“Stay away from the Belles, John.” There was another pause. “I seriously think The Company had Nicholas Belle and his wife murdered, and the reasons are…well you wouldn’t believe them…corruption in The Company. What’s new, right?”
“Jason, for the love of God!” I angrily said to the screen. I wanted him to say this had nothing to do with Claudia, but of course it probably did.
“They had a daughter, but the problem is, no one knows what happened to her…at least The Company doesn’t, there’s no known picture of her, like she didn’t even exist. Weird thing is, only a few people know about this, like big people. I mean, I doubt the Director even does. Someone was hiding something, John…if she was a minder…well, John….”
“What, Jason? What if she is?”
“You know what they do to minders, John?”
“Who? What do they do?” There was a long pause.
“You should know, John; you hunt them. Haven’t you ever wondered what they do to them, especially to the girls?”
I never come across any Jason, and no I don’t. Only Oddities but I leave after. I don’t care to know. I was guilty of that.
“I know you only find oddities there hasn’t been any for a long time, that’s why it’s so important, John.” He answered me as if he knew what I would say in response. “But have you ever asked yourself why?”
What? What are you talking about, Jason? Get to the point. Why what?
“Why there aren’t…. minders left, of course. And why the females are so important? It’s the females they need for their experiments.”
He again paused. “Who?” I asked.
There was movement, a gasp and scattering, and then the recording started failing, and I came closer, trying to listen. “Jason?” I whispered. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“John…” I heard Jason’s voice.
My face was nearly touching the screen of the laptop. I was listening at the silence and the movement that I couldn’t quite recognize. Then, gunfire nearly knocked me back away from the screen as I gazed at the digital recording on the screen in utter silence.
Jason…I whispered, again gunfire, and then it cut off. I sat there starting at the monitor. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. Jason’s voice, Jason’s last words, and then the gunfire. I was speechless, unable to understand. What if there was anything more he was trying to reveal and why had someone felt the need to kill him for it?
I must have sat there for a moment with the recorded attachment sitting on my screen; I played it again, especially the last moments before the gunfire. I couldn’t clearly make out the sounds. Was he trying to tell me something?
I turned up the sound, amplified it until it was static. Then I heard it clearly, someone walking in, the squeaky door opening and steps slowly entering. Jason breathing. I could picture him hiding under the desk, a nervous heavy breather. I heard tapping and whistling as if whoever was coming was playing a wicked game with him.
The tap came again, and I realized it was Jason who
was trying to type something. I again pictured him with the keyboard, trying to get the rest of this message out no matter what.
But that wasn’t all I heard. “You found her, didn’t you? You found her. I suspected it when you asked me about Vega…John…They must never know you found her. They think that she was taken by them.”
Them? Who was them?
There was movement again from a distance, and he gasped and then said, “The female minders control them, John; that’s why they need them.”
Jason suddenly gasped in panic as if he had caught sight of his killer, and then the gunfire happened, and it cut off.
The last part didn’t make any sense to me. I pondered over the message and repeated the recording, but it only left me wondering each time what he meant.
I put my hands over my face. “Jason,” I whispered. I had gotten him killed over this bullshit, and I didn’t even know why.
I pounded my fist on the desk. I feared I would have to leave sooner. I couldn’t, I just couldn’t allow them to find her now. There was far too much at stake, far too much I didn’t understand. And that alone was enough to fear.
They must never know you found her…Jason’s words kept repeating in my mind. I knew that, but it was far more important that she never gets discover by them now more than ever.
I shivered at the sound in Jason’s voice, the fear in his tone; he knew something, something more he had failed to reveal. I wanted to know, but at the same time, I didn’t. Had my girl’s father been involved with far more? I couldn’t believe what Jason’s snooping had discovered. My girl’s father was a part of The Company?
So, I guess there are things Director Nicholson doesn’t know. And right then, I knew that was one more thing he should never find out. She was a female minder and the daughter of a member of The Company, and not just any member, the adopted son of the founder. God, what had I stepped into? What the fuck was going on here?
I fell back against the chair; only then did I recall the flash drive, and I immediately reached down under the desk and found it at the very back against the side of the wood of the surface, well hidden.