by R S Penney
Anna shuffled forward.
A moment later, Bradley was slipping his arms around her, and she was burying her nose in his chest. “I'll tell you later,” she murmured. “Right now, I want to forget about it for a little while.”
“Okay,” he said. “Do you want me to start din-”
Anna stood up on her toes. Seizing his face in both hands, she pulled him close and kissed him full on the mouth. Right then, she didn't want to talk. She didn't want to think. The only thing she wanted was warmth and affection and love.
An hour or so later, she was lying with her cheek pressed to his bare chest, a thin sheet pulled up over her shoulder. “That was nice,” she whispered, nuzzling him. “If you like, you can start dinner now.”
Bradley was grinning up at her, lost in his own little world. “Maybe I will, in a few minutes.” He gently stroked her hair with his fingertips. “Why don't you tell me what has you so upset?”
“Do I have to?”
“No, but…”
Propping herself up on one elbow, Anna rested her chin in the palm of her hand. Her red hair was in a state of disarray with thin strands falling over her face. “I've been suspended from duty,” she said. “I beat up a pair of cops to prevent them from shooting that poor kid.”
Bradley squeezed his eyes shut, grunting softly to himself. “Well, it's not that bad,” he managed after a few moments. “They'll probably give you a slap on the wrist. In the meantime, think of it as an impromptu vacation.”
There were many things he might have said to ease her frustrations, but that wasn't one of them. Bleakness take her, did he think this was some kind of joke? She didn't want a vacation.
Anna rolled onto her side, turning away from him and pulling the covers up over herself. “We should probably get dressed,” she muttered. “It's getting late, and I've got a few things I still have to do.”
“Everything all right?”
“Yeah,” she said, deliberately softening her tone, ignoring the tears that threatened to well up. The very last thing she needed on top of everything else was a fight with her boyfriend. He was trying! It wasn't fair to expect him to read her mind and say the right thing in every possible situation. Relationships didn't work like that in real life. She was angry with her superiors, and taking it out on Bradley would be inexcusable.
When she turned back to him, he was lying on his side, facing her with a concerned expression on his face. “I know it's gotta be awful,” he said. “But you're the most capable person I've ever met. You'll sort it out.”
Anna leaned in close, touching her nose to the side of his neck, then pressing kisses to the soft skin. “I am one very lucky woman,” she whispered to him. “You always make me feel better.”
Well, most of the time, he did.
His arms slipped around her, trailing fingertips over her bare back. “I just wish that I could do more,” Bradley murmured. “I wish you'd tell about whatever big project you're working on. I might be able to offer ideas.”
That brought a surge of irritation that she quickly smothered. She didn't need any suggestions on how to do her job. Still…this was his way of showing her that he cared. Anna gave him a smooch on the forehead. “I can't,” she said. “I know you want to help, but I've been ordered not to divulge any information.”
There were days when she wanted to tell them about their hunt for the Key, but in addition to Jena's insistence that she avoid discussing it with anyone outside their little council, she wasn't entirely sure how Bradley would react to it. The Overseers had left a powerful device somewhere on this planet, and if Slade got his hands on it, he would use it to do…something bad.
Being shot at, punched and exposed to life-threatening danger on a regular basis had a way of steeling your nerves.
Bradley, on the other hand, had none of that experience. When you got right down to it, he was just a guy who wanted to go into work every day and create apps for smart phones. How would he react to the knowledge that his planet might blow up? Would he tell people? Start a panic?
Her musings were cut off by a soft beeping sound. When she rolled over, she saw her multi-tool sitting on the nightstand, its screen lit up with the words “Incoming Call.” She snatched it up by reflex.
“Answer call,” Anna said. “Audio only. Hello?”
“How you doing, girl?” Jena's voice came through the speaker.
Anna shut her eyes tight, sweat prickling on her forehead. “I'll be fine,” she said, tossing her head about violently. “My boyfriend advises me that I should look on this as an unscheduled vacation.”
“That's the spirit,” Jena replied. “Look, I know you must be pretty shook up. I was thinking I would stop by and we could talk. Say in half an hour?”
Anna heaved out a sigh. “Sure. That'd be fine.”
Chapter 19
The screen of his tablet displayed black-and-white security camera footage of the Winnipeg SlipGate terminal, and it was pretty much what you would expect. A bunch of people stood in line, shuffling slowly forward as they passed through scanners. No sign of Pennfield.
Not that he would have had much luck catching the man with the naked eye – not when the facial recognition software that analyzed the footage had been unable to do the job – but sometimes he had to try.
Chewing on his lower lip, Jack shut his eyes tight. “This is getting me nowhere,” he said. “Put the tablet down, Jack. If you don't see him after several hours, it's time to let go of your fun new obsession.”
He threw himself back against the plush couch cushions, turning his face up to the ceiling. “What do you think, Summer?” he asked the Nassai. “See anything I might have missed? Like a tall skinny guy with glasses and an obvious stick up his ass?”
Unlike him, Summer would remember every second of that footage – every single frame – with perfect, vivid clarity. He would put his mind into a relaxed state so that she could communicate more directly, but before he even took the first step, his symbiont's emotions told him that the answer was a resounding no.
Jack sighed.
The living room of his apartment was lit by late afternoon sunlight, sunlight that fell on the couch, his wooden coffee table, and the big blue easy chair across from it.
After nearly four years, he had grown used to the place. He could have moved out when Anna left for Alios – he had no need for the extra bedroom once she was gone – but he stayed because this place reminded him of her. Did he still feel that way? After nearly four years, he supposed he didn't really need the reminder, but it was his home now.
A knock at the door brought him out of his reverie.
“It's open.”
The front door swung inward to admit a tall, slender woman in black pants and a white t-shirt. Jena wore her auburn hair cut short and parted in the middle. “So this is the place, huh?”
Tilting his head back, Jack felt a smile blossom on his face. “Not quite what you'd been expecting?” he asked, eyebrows rising. “Hey, wait a minute. How the hell did you get up here without me buzzing you?”
His boss stood with arms folded in the entrance to his living room, staring down at herself. “I was visiting Anna,” she said, taking a step forward. “After the day she's had, I'd wager the girl was ready to punch a hole in the wall.”
“What happened?”
Jena filled him in on everything: Anna's search for the boy who had bonded with the Overseer device, her altercations with a strange masked woman who carried a Nassai of her own – as if they needed another maniac with Keeper powers on the loose – and the police with their unfortunate refusal to exercise restraint. Now Anna was suspended pending the results of a formal inquiry.
Jack almost groaned. He knew exactly how his best friend would react under such circumstances. There was no doubt in his mind that if he had been in Anna's place, he would have done exactly as she did. He would have protected the boy and accepted the consequences of that decision. The difference between them, however, was that Jack
was used to being a pariah. He had come to accept it, even to like it.
Anna, on the other hand, believed in the Keepers. They weren't so different when you got right down to it – like him, she'd follow her conscience, throw public perception to the wind and accept the consequences – but she desperately wanted to believe that she and the people she worked for were on the same side. She wanted their approval even if she was willing to throw it away in the service of what she thought was right.
Jack winced, doubling over to press a hand to his forehead. “She's blaming herself for it, isn't she?” he muttered under his breath. “No, not even that. She's trying to act like she's letting it roll off her back, but it's killing her.”
“You know her well.”
“Sometimes better than she knows herself.”
Jena tossed her head back, blinking at the ceiling. “Well, talk to her when you get a spare moment,” she said. “In the meantime, I'd like to have chat with you about our dear friend Wesley Pennfield.”
“I'm trying to track him.”
“You do realize that we have agents up on Station Twelve trying to do the same thing.” Her tone suggested that this would be one of those conversations where she took on the role of mentor and he the role of errant pupil. “Why aren't you working with them?”
Jack frowned into his own lap, shaking his head. “Well, you know me,” he said. “I could go up there and make nice with the other agents, but that would ruin this lone wolf image I've been working so hard to cultivate.”
“I see.”
With a heavy sigh, Jena dropped into the easy chair on the other side of the coffee table and crossed one leg over the other. Her expression was stern. “So you're not going to run off and attack Pennfield all by yourself.”
Closing his eyes, Jack took a deep, soothing breath. “Is that what you're worried about?” he asked, leaning back against the couch cushions. “You think I'm gonna go on some vengeance crusade?”
“The thought crossed my mind.”
“I suppose a simple 'no' isn't good enough.”
Hunching over, Jena sat with her hands on her knees. Her face was so contorted you might have thought she had been punched in the belly. “Look, Jack, if you need a few days off to look after your dad – or even just to sort out your own feelings – that's fine. If you wanna work, work with us.”
He paused for a moment, considering what his boss had just said. The truth was he wasn't feeling up to social interaction – not after finding out that his father had been shot by an enemy who should have stayed gone and forgotten – but he was also feeling more than a little restless. He had to do something, to find some clue that would lead them to Pennfield, but he had no intention of running off to beat the man senseless with his own bare hands.
Still, six months as Harry's girlfriend would have exposed Jena to more than her fair share of action movies. She had to know the tropes by now, and her concern was not unreasonable. “Okay,” he said. “I'll come up to the station tomorrow.”
“Okay.” She offered a warm smile, one that made him feel a little less tense. “In the meantime, why don't you go do something fun?”
“Yeah, I guess I should.”
Melissa was surprised by just how warm Tennessee could be when temperatures in Ottawa had only just risen above freezing a few weeks ago. The hot sun was bright in the clear blue sky, beaming down on a small park in the middle of a field of green grass.
About a hundred feet away, a jungle gym of brightly coloured metal bars was just overflowing with little kids who ran about, shouting with glee as they chased each other. Beyond that, small houses stood on the other side of the street that bordered the field.
Melissa wore beige pants and a red tanktop with thin straps, allowing the warm sun to caress her bare shoulders. Her dark hair was pulled back with a clip, and the strap of her purse was heavy against her skin. “So, are you recovering from your experience?”
At her side, Kevin Harmon – a young man in shorts and a dark blue t-shirt – stood with a sullen expression, staring off into the distance. “That isn't the hard part,” he said. “The hard part will be going back to school.”
Pressing her lips into a thin line, Melissa stared down at the grass under her feet. “Yeah,” she said. “I hear you. But I think you'll be okay.”
Yesterday, her father had taken her up to Station Twelve to meet this young man who was recovering in the Med-Lab. After spending one very long night there herself, she could understand how staring at the walls would eventually drive anyone insane. Kevin was nice, very pleasant.
She couldn't begin to guess what he was going through, having been exposed to that strange piece of alien technology that had overpowered his mind and body, that had forced him to do things he would never have wanted. It made her heart break.
Melissa forced a small smile, sweat beading on her forehead. She wiped it away with the back of her hand. “Come on,” she said. “Show me around. Manchester seems like a nice place to live.”
They made their way through the field toward the jungle-gym, giving the kids a wide birth. One boy chased his sister with a water gun and sprayed the back of her shirt until his babysitter shouted for him to stop. How long had it been since Melissa had done stuff like that? The answer came to her in a flash.
Last Summer.
Claire was still at an age where she found annoying her older sister to be the best fun she'd ever had. Last year, a few of the neighbourhood kids had pelted her with water balloons on her way home from the community centre. Still, there was something sweet and innocent in all-
She noticed that Kevin had stopped and now stood perfectly still, staring at a girl in a green dress with shot sleeves, a girl who wore her dark hair in ringlets that spilled over her shoulders.
A frown put creases in Kevin's brow. For a moment, it looked as though he wanted to say something, but he quickly got a hold of himself, shook his head and started onward without another word.
The girl was another matter.
She looked up, blinking at him. “Kevin?” she asked, starting toward him at a quick pace. “You're all right? Oh, thank goodness! They told me the Justice Keepers found you, but I didn't know…”
Kevin winced, his face contorting with guilt. “Amanda, I'm so sorry.” His words were hoarse, strained. “I never meant to frighten you, but that alien thing has a way of screwing with your-”
The girl slammed into him, slipping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder. “I'm just glad you're all right,” she murmured. After a moment, Kevin found the nerve to return the hug.
Well, this was interesting. Admittedly, Melissa had only known this boy for a mere twenty-four hours, but he had never mentioned anything about a crush. It was clear that these two liked each other.
Melissa stood with her arms crossed, smiling down at herself. “So are you going to introduce me?” she asked, moseying closer to the pair. “Also, you seem to be unaware of the rule that says when someone keeps you company in the hospital, you are required to pass the time by sharing all the juicy gossip.”
Amanda glanced over her shoulder with a tight expression, her eyes fluttering as if she had never seen a girl in a tank-top before. “Oh…” she murmured, backing away from Kevin. “I didn't realize…”
Closing her eyes, Melissa shook her head. “No, you don't understand,” she said through a fit of laughter. “My father works with the Justice Keepers. He thought Kevin could use a little company.”
The young man was blushing, his eyes downcast so that he wouldn't have to look at Amanda. “This is Melissa,” he muttered under his breath. “I only just met her yesterday. She's a good friend.”
Of all things, Amanda hugged herself and shivered. What could…The girl seemed flustered by the implications that she might have feelings for Kevin. But why…Melissa remembered the story her father had told. She prayed to God Almighty that racism wasn't the cause of that reaction.
“Amanda!”
&nbs
p; The sound of a gruff voice shouting her name caused the girl to jump and cover her mouth with both hands. When Melissa turned around, she began to understand Amanda's jumpiness. This can't be good.
A man in a gray suit and white shirt with the collar left open came striding through the grass. He was handsome enough for an older guy: tall with a stern face and short gray hair. “What are you doing, talking to that boy?”
Amanda shut her eyes, then covered her face with her hand. “I was just worried about him,” she mumbled halfheartedly. “He went through a horrible experience. The Christian thing to do would be to show concern.”
The man's lips peeled back, revealing clenched teeth, and his face turned several shades of crimson. “Stay away from my daughter,” he growled, fixing his gaze on Kevin. “You've done enough damage to this town.”
Kevin sucked on his lower lip and kept his eyes focused on the ground. “I was just apologizing,” he said, backing away. “The alien device is gone now. Your daughter is in no danger.”
“She's in plenty of danger if you're around.”
That was when Melissa began to understand. It wasn't Amanda's racism that made the girl afraid to admit her feelings for Kevin. No, that bigotry came from the girl's father. But what to do about it?
Three months spent training with the Keepers had given her plenty of role models to look up to. Anna would launch into a fiery tirade, exposing the man's vile attitudes the way one might peel off a bandage to reveal a festering wound. Jack would employ a well-timed comeback, deflating the man's ego with razor wit. Jena would probably find some way to entrap him, but Melissa…
What was her approach to these situations?
She watched as Amanda wilted, head hanging as she backed away from her father. “He's a good person,” she murmured with so little volume it was barely audible. “It was not his fault.”
And then it hit her.
Melissa wasn't fiery; she wasn't impulsive. The few times she had listened to her gut instincts, she had regretted it. No, deep down, Melissa was a thinker, and when she analyzed the situation, she realized that her first priority was ensuring the well-being of the people under her care. Kevin and Amanda.