Chameleon Uncovered

by BR Kingsolver

  Mike had to have crossed through there, but he hadn’t warned me. Of course, he probably strolled right through without a second thought.

  We watched the street for about ten minutes as I furiously tried to think of a way to get through. I’d already shown Wil that I was a chameleon, a mutant, so that horse was out of the barn. Fewer than a dozen people knew about my morphing ability. If he ever told anyone in security or law enforcement, my career would be toast. I’d have to go straight and work for a living like everyone else.

  I couldn’t see a way around it, though.

  “Take off your mask. We’re going to have to bluff our way through.” No one on the street wore a filter mask. They were too expensive for anyone in this part of the city. Even if you could afford one, you were asking to be mugged if you wore it.

  I started stashing guns in my backpack and finally pulled off the straps binding us to each other.

  “If this works, I hope you remember that you owe me your life,” I said as I unblurred my form and turned to face him. “I’m going to tell you a secret, and you can’t ever tell anyone else. Do you understand me?”

  “Sure, Libby. Hey, we’re on the same side.” He reached out and tenderly stroked my cheek. “I haven’t told anyone about the six million, or any of your other shady deals.” And then he leaned forward, pulled off my mask, and kissed me. When he drew back, he stared into my eyes as though he could will me to trust him.

  I took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ll trust you. What we’re going to do is pass you off as my boy toy. Stick close to me and only look at me. Don’t go looking around and showing your face to people. Okay?”

  I looked around to make sure no one was watching us, then morphed into a troll. In less than a second, in his eyes and anyone who happened to be watching me, I grew two feet and put on two hundred pounds. My hair turned black and grew down to my butt, and my skin darkened to a milk chocolate color. My only clothing was a G-string and sandals.

  Wil’s eyes about popped out of his head. I put my arm around his shoulders, pulled his face into what he would see as a basketball-sized boob, and said, “Come along, now. Momma Lib got big plans for you tonight, Sweetcheeks.”

  I dragged him out onto the street with me, heading for an alley where it appeared we could get away from all the lights and people. As we walked across the street, people cleared a path for us. No one wanted to cross a troll.

  We hit the sidewalk on the other side of the street and were less than fifty feet from the alley when Carly and Gustav walked out of a bar right in front of us. We almost ran over them. They turned to us, and Gustav took a hurried step backward, but Carly just stopped.

  “Hi, Libby.”

  “Crap. Grab her,” I said.

  Gustav looked back and forth between me and Carly. “Libby?” he asked.

  “Yeah, that’s Libby,” Carly said.

  Wil lunged at Carly, but Gustav said in a weird sort of voice, “You will leave her alone. Grab Libby.”

  Wil turned and grabbed my left arm in a grip like a steel vise. I looked in his eyes, and they were blank, his face expressionless.

  “Bring her,” Gustav said.

  Wil turned to follow him, pulling me along.

  I pulled a knife and threw it at Gustav. He dodged, but the knife lodged in his thigh and he sprawled to the ground. Wil shuddered, the light came back into his eyes, and he let go of me.

  “Grab her,” I said again, pointing at Carly.

  Wil grabbed her by the arm.

  “Bring her,” I yelled as I broke into a run. I didn’t bother to turn and see if he followed me. I could hear his footsteps pounding behind me.

  A bullet ricocheted off the building above my head as I ducked into the alley. It would have hit me if I really was as tall as a troll. Turning, I saw Wil round the corner with Carly thrown over his shoulder. I stopped and pulled the riot gun out of my pack.

  “Keep going,” I shouted as he reached me. “I’ll catch up.”

  I backed down the alley after him. A couple of men with guns dashed into the alley, and I pulled the trigger repeatedly until they both went down. The alley we were in crossed the alley behind all the bars, and kept going past the next street. I had to shoot two more men before I reached that street.

  Looking around, I saw Wil heading away from me with Carly screaming bloody murder and pounding on his back with her fists. I dropped the troll persona, blurred my form to make it harder to shoot me, and broke into a run to follow him.

  The woman he was carrying slowed him down, so I caught up with him after a couple of blocks.

  “Hey, stop for a minute,” I said as I drew even with him.

  We slowed to a stop and I dug the jet injector out of my bag. Carly continued ranting and calling for help until I pushed the injector against her neck and gave her a shot.

  “She should be a little easier to carry now.”

  “Thanks. Why do we want her?”

  “Because she’s the prophet Alscher is using to rile up the muties. Ship her off to Siberia or someplace, and things will probably calm down. Hell, get her away from Alscher, fix some of the weird ideas he’s fed her, and she might be useful. She may be a real clairvoyant.”

  “Which way?” was all he asked.

  The sky was lightening in the east when we met up with Mike at the extraction point. True to his word, Devon was there with an aircar to pick us up.

  As we rose into the air, I saw a bunch of red lights flying toward us from the direction of the lake. They dropped in altitude, and then a minute or so later, red streaks preceded the bright fiery flash of explosions erupting from the ground.

  Battle and carnage in the mutant district continued for three days after our escape. The fighting spread, and more security forces airlifted in, but things finally calmed down. Democracy Now was broken, and anyone who might have advocated for mutant rights was cowering in a basement, hoping the next bomb missed them.

  I had been an observer, sitting in the strategy discussions and hanging around the war room. I didn’t really have any business being there, but no one threw me out. I think because Devon and Wil let me be there, everyone else seemed to think I had some sort of undefined position.

  At least a dozen times, I thought about leaving, but I couldn’t just walk away and pretend it wasn’t happening. Instead, I went off by myself and screamed and cried sometimes, and I cursed Alscher on a regular basis. He knew what had happened in Germany, and it was being repeated in Chicago. I had warned Carly. The corporate soldiers didn’t discriminate. Mothers with children and other innocents were caught in the assault along with the terrorists.

  The Chamber posted a dead-or-alive reward for Alscher, but they didn’t find his body and he wasn’t among the prisoners.

  Chapter 27

  A couple of days after the corporations declared victory and told their troops to stand down, I asked Wil out to dinner at that fancy country club and bought a new dress.

  “They have lobster,” I said, looking at the menu. “I had a lobster once. Looked like a big bug, but it tasted good. Kind of messy to eat, though. Oh, they only have the tails. I wonder why.”

  He laughed. “The tails are easier to eat, and the shell will be split already.”

  “Really? Maybe I’ll order that. With all the money I made rescuing you, I can afford it.”

  “Yeah, you really got rich off of me. The accounting department called me this morning. They said you told them to send the checks for all of the work you did for the Chamber to a charity to help the mutants in southwest Chicago. I did some checking. That charity was only set up yesterday, with a single three million credit deposit. It has a rather suspicious name.”

  “How could I resist contributing to something called the Modigliani Charitable Trust?” I asked. “Wil, Alscher went about things the wrong way, but what he wanted for people, such as education and decent living conditions, wasn’t wrong.”

  “You’re going to ruin your reputation as a stone-cold
bitch.”

  “Shhh. It will only ruin my reputation if you’re a blabbermouth.”

  Wil held up his glass and I clinked mine against it. Taking a sip of my drink, I decided to confront the elephant in the room head on.

  “So, now you know I’m a chameleon. A mutant. Not the sort of woman you’d take home to mother.”

  He cocked his head in that way he had and asked, “Is that what you think? That I wouldn’t be interested in a woman with a mutation?”

  “Well, interested, probably. You’re a man. What man wouldn’t be interested in Miriam? She’s gorgeous. But I can’t imagine her at a charity reception.” I looked down at my drink and played with the little umbrella. “But you’re also a corporate climber, and when you reach VP, you’ll want a wife who can give you normal children and entertain in a sedate, conventional way.”

  “With a conventional prenup that preserves all my wealth.”

  I laughed. “Of course. That’s why I wouldn’t want you to read the prenup. I’d put clauses in there that you couldn’t divorce me if I have kids with flippers instead of feet.”

  Wil shook his head. “Do you want to get married?” He looked very serious.

  That sobered me. I thought about it while the waitress came and took our orders.

  “Not really,” I said after she left. “Not right now, anyway. Maybe someday. To the right man. I wouldn’t do it just to get married, no matter how rich he was.” I winked at him. “My mother proved that a single girl can have a baby if she wants, and I know how to make my own money.”

  He didn’t look relieved. Instead, he leaned closer, staring straight into my eyes, and said, “I’m not interested in getting married right now, either. But when I do marry somebody, she won’t be the perfect corporate trophy wife. She’ll be someone so unique and wonderful that I can’t live without her. Someone who loves me as much as I love her.”

  My mouth was really dry, so I tried to take a sip of my drink. My hand shook so badly that I set it back down.

  “I…I think that’s what most girls really want,” I said.

  The waitress showed up with our wine, and I excused myself to the ladies’ room. By the time I got back to our table, I had my emotions under better control.

  Wil took me back to my hotel, and things almost fell apart at my door. I gave him a quick kiss, and he took it to another level. Or maybe I did. Or we did.

  Finally, I managed to pull away from him and pant, “We can’t do this.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I have a train to catch tomorrow, and I still need to pack.”

  “That’s a lousy excuse.”

  “It’s the only one I can come up with.” He leaned in to kiss me again, but I pushed him away. “No. Not like this. Not when I’m leaving.” I touched his lips with my fingertips. “If I slept with you tonight, and it was the only time, if I never saw you again, it would break my heart. Do you understand?”

  It seemed as though he looked at me a long time, then he said, “Yes, I understand.”

  “If you’re really interested, come visit me. Come when you can spend some time. Let’s get to know each other. Right now, I know how you react under fire, but I don’t know how you relax in the evenings, or what you do with your time off. I’m not always a kick-ass bitch. I’d like you to know that side of me, too.”

  “That makes sense.” He leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead. “Good night, Libby.”

  Wil and Miriam came the next morning and drove Mike and me over to the museum. I’d submitted all my final reports and invoices to AIC, the Chamber, and North American Insurance. All my equipment and tools were boxed up for the train trip home.

  We were taking Miriam to Toronto with us. To my surprise, she planned to become a courtesan. I told her I’d introduce her to my mom.

  “Men have been selling me all my life,” she told me. “Men have gotten rich selling me. I have no skills. I can’t read or write. I really don’t mind sex, and I’m told that I’m good at it. Now it’s time for me to get rich.”

  While Wil and Mike carried all the stuff out to the car, I wandered down the hall.

  “Hi, Jess. How are you doing?”

  “Hi, Libby. I’m okay, I guess.” To my eyes, she didn’t look okay.

  “Are you going to be staying on here?”

  “I’m not sure. They’ve asked me to stay until they can find a new director. I don’t know whether I’ll stay here, or maybe go out to San Francisco or Vancouver. I’ve always liked it out there.”

  “Why did you do it, Jess?”

  The blood drained out of her face, and she stared at me. She swayed on her feet, and for a moment I was afraid she might faint, but she reached out and put her hand on the desk to steady herself.

  “It couldn’t have been because of Malcolm. You’ve always known about him, and known Deborah was bi. And I can’t imagine you didn’t at least suspect about the robbery. So, what was the tipping point? What sent you over the edge?”

  Tears escaped and ran down her cheeks. She turned away, walked to a chair, and sat down facing me.

  “I begged her not to do it, not to go along with it. But she said that she owed Malcolm. She said that she’d bail him out, and then she’d resign and we’d go to Vancouver. We had the money to start a gallery, and with her reputation and connections, it would have been a success.”

  I watched her wringing her hands, totally defeated.

  “Then Malcolm, that bastard, went behind her back and had Margarita steal five paintings. Deborah was furious the day after the robbery. He told her it would be all right because he’d concocted that ridiculous plan to plant the necklace on you.”

  She looked up at me. “I told her that was wrong. The museum, the insurance company, they’re big institutions. No one was really getting hurt. But you’re a person, an innocent person, and you didn’t deserve to pay for Malcolm’s screw-ups.”

  Jess bit her lip and looked down at her lap. “Deborah said she would tell Malcolm that she was quitting. He could do whatever he wanted, but she wanted out. She told me we’d go to Vancouver.”

  The woman’s composure completely broke, sobbing and gasping. “I found plane tickets for Deborah and Malcolm in her desk. They were going to run away to China. She was leaving me. I called her, and she came to my condo. I confronted her, and she laughed at me. She told me she was in love with Malcolm, not me.”

  “And you stabbed her.”

  “Yes.” She sat doubled over, her arms across her stomach, and sobbed.

  I turned around and walked out. It wasn’t as though I owed Deborah anything. The bitch had set me up.

  “You’re ready to go?” Wil asked when I met him in the hall.

  “Yep. This may be your city, but personally, I like Toronto. I never get blown up there when I go out to eat and the rats are smaller.”

  On our way to the train station, Wil said with a smirk, “You know, I contracted you to find Deborah Zhukoff’s killer. You never fulfilled the contract.”

  “Sure I did.”

  He turned to me. “You know who killed Deborah?”

  “Yeah. Read the contract. You didn’t say I had to tell you who it was.”

  “Geez, Libby!”

  “Hey, don’t go getting all official on me. Just take my word for it. Justice is served. The guilty party is paying.”

  How painful would it be to go through life knowing you had killed the one person you truly loved? I couldn’t imagine, but I figured Jessica was paying enough.

  Nellie was singing Cry Me a River as I nursed my second drink and tried to decide what, or if, I wanted to eat.

  Paul, The Pinnacle’s manager and bartender came over and asked, “Is Nellie okay?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “She’s singing too many sad songs tonight. Happy people are better for business, but before I said something to her, I wanted to check.”

  “She’s okay. She came over while I unpacked this afternoon and I was telling her about C
hicago. I guess both of us are in a mood.”

  He nodded. “Lousy business, that. Were you mixed up in it at all?”

  I bit my lip and looked up at him. “Yeah, I was a little too close.”

  Paul and I had known each other since elementary school. He put his arm around my shoulders and gave me a hug. “Any time you need someone to listen,” he said and gave me a quick kiss on the top of my head. “Tell her to pep it up a little, okay?”

  The corporate controlled news clamped down on events they didn’t want people to know about. They hadn’t done that with “The Chicago Insurrection.” They broadcast the massacre far and wide, and the message was loud and clear. The corps didn’t care what individuals or even groups did most of the time. Challenging the corps was another matter.

  Sometime later, Nellie was singing an upbeat dance number, and I was eating poutine when James’s voice said, “I didn’t know you were back in town.”

  I felt a happy bump in my chest and a smile spread across my face as I turned to him, stood, and threw my arms around his neck.

  “I just got back last night. It’s so good to see you.” I took his hand and drew him to an empty chair. “Come sit with me.”

  “I’m crushed that you didn’t call me right away,” he teased.

  With a chuckle, I said, “I assumed you’d know by mental telepathy. C’mon, don’t tell me you’re the only man in the world who can’t read women’s minds.”

  He roared with laughter. I signaled the waitress and ordered him a drink.

  “If I buy you a drink, will you forgive me?” I asked with a flirtatious grin.

  “I will if you’ll agree to go out with me this weekend.”

  I leaned forward and kissed him on the end of his nose. “That sounds like an excellent idea. Let’s go someplace without any bombs.”

  ###

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