Carla struggled to come up with an answer. Chris didn’t know if she would ever be able to answer. Art saved her the trouble.
“Hey, Chris,” said Art. He came up from behind and touched Chris’s shoulders before moving over to pull Carla in for a side-hug. “I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, thanks Art. I was just – “
“I know,” said Art. “A tragic experience can bring on that loss of innocence we all hold on to so tightly even at an older age.”
“It’s not that. I was saying to —“
“I know. This is all fake. I do have to say that it was such a joy to see your face in response to the magic we created here. It was like live theater. Such a thrill, but at a terrible price. We’ll miss Klaus. At least there wasn’t any family he left behind.”
“Uh-huh,” said Chris.
Carla gazed up at Chris the entire time. Her wide eyes glistened and broke Chris’s heart when he looked back to her.
“I'm sorry. I have to go,” said Chris and walked away.
Chris didn't know where he had to go to, but he knew Carla and Art were dead ends. The lounge might be worth settling in to for the rest of the day. Erik would look for him there, though. Why was he even still at the lab? He hadn't seen his family in a week. Fuck, he still hadn’t called Sadie. Again it seemed too late, thought Chris. Well if Erik wouldn't let him quit, than he wasn't going to fire him for leaving early.
No one else popped up to give their condolences or even look Chris in the eye as he made the trek through the rest of the lab and back into the main hub. He thought about if anyone else even knew who he was or what they were doing in the A1 lab. So many people just sitting at their desks or mulling around without any clue.
Almost to the door, Chris remembered the most basic of things he needed to get out of there were his keys still sitting in the locker in the lounge. He veered off to the new in-between destination. Hopefully Erik wasn't there or even Johnykin. Chris just wanted to get out as quickly as possible.
The lounge was deserted. He jogged to the locker and pulled the keys out with barely a glance inside and then jogged back out the door where Neal stood waiting. A smile much like Erik's patented creepy visage stood patiently.
“Welcome back, Chris,” said Neal. His arms were crossed behind him and when he brought them around there was a clipboard in one.
“Not now Neal. I don't need your fake psychobabble. I'm leaving for the day.”
“Oh it's not fake. I understand the news has spread about the deceitful comings and goings of most of this project, but I can assure you that I am in actuality a certified psychologist. As such it is imperative that I speak with you about your mental state since going through a wartime episode and of course the shock of having the veil lifted from your eyes.”
“Again, not now,” said Chris, and jangled his keys in support of the hurried state he was in.
Neal wrote something on the clipboard. Chris furrowed his brow in paranoia before shaking out of it and attempting a sidestep around this new obstacle. Still writing, Neal made his own sidestep to counter Chris.
“What plans or new directions do you see yourself pursuing?” asked Neal, ready to record any responses.
“Home. Now get the hell out of my way.”
Neal smiled darkly and stayed put. Chris saw the tactic and pushed through him with a bump of their shoulders. Write that down you bastard, Chris thought, before realizing it wasn’t so cool upon reflection.
One week. The more Chris thought about it, the more it infuriated him. At least no one else stopped him on the way out. He picked up the pace once outside and jogged to his car. What if it didn’t start? It sat here forever. Chris turned the key in the ignition. It sputtered to life and then died before he could put it in gear. Shit, how did he know? Chris hit his head against the steering wheel to get away from his precognition and test out Marty McFly’s car starting trick. He didn’t want to call Sadie to come pick him up or get a tow truck. It would all just take more time that he couldn’t waste anymore.
A sharp tapping on the window startled Chris away from the comfy plastic molding pressed against his forehead. Frank had his keys out, pointed through the glass straight at Chris’s chest. Chris rolled down the window.
“It’s probably you’re fuel pump,” said Frank. “They can dry out from sitting there. Come on. I’ll give you a ride unless the same happened to my truck.”
Chris didn’t say anything, he just followed Frank. Frank’s truck started with ease and idled as it should while they settled in. It had been a while since Chris was last in the passenger seat of Frank’s truck, but nothing was different. Frank gave the engine another ten seconds to warm up and then cranked it into gear and they were out of the parking lot in another ten.
“I told you,” said Frank. “Erik’s not to be fucked with.”
“But it’s okay for him to fuck with us? I can’t believe you would take that from him or anyone.”
“You’re taking it too. I knew you wouldn’t go through with it, but I don’t blame you. He’ll get nasty and come after everything we have.”
“I just need to see my family again. I’m going to quit still. I… I don’t know if it’ll work, but I’m writing down everything. Maybe if I have it and threaten him…”
“Threaten him with what? Dude, nobody is going to believe you even if you somehow published whatever the hell you think you have. It’s just a story and that’s all people will treat it as. The government will deny it and you won’t change anything. At least we have a job and can support our families. That’s what’s important, isn’t it?”
“Yes, no.”
“I admit you’re growing balls. And I’m going to get you back even more for sort of kicking my ass. But you never would have even thought of doing that before all of this.”
“It’s not enough. I have to get out of this situation. I’m grateful for what it’s given me, but I can’t keep on.”
“It’s what you make of it. We’re providing a service even if it’s not done the best or most honest way. It’s still something.”
Chris didn't respond. Frank stared out into the road before continuing, “I like what we do. I like fighting and protecting people. You’re not the same. That’s fine. You need to do what’s right for you.”
“Yeah it'd be nice to have more than just your word as support,” said Chris.
“Shit would be nice. Support yourself.”
“I will.”
The conversation died there, but it wasn't a complete failure. Chris brought up his family in lighter terms and asked Frank about his own. Frank missed them too, he just didn't complain about it. Simone was causing trouble at school and Gail didn't know how to handle it. Frank said it was routine, every few months Simone would get bored and not know what to do with himself. It was something he used to do, Frank admitted. Chris quietly thought it was more a reaction to Frank not being around.
Were Gerry and Louise doing the same, except Sadie didn't bother him about it? Chris felt confident she could handle them, but she didn't deserve to do it alone. This train of thought led to the inevitable end with Chris imagining himself in Klaus's body bag, leaving Sadie to raise the kids by herself. All for a fucking fake job.
The anger and flood of possibilities continued to swirl in Chris's head until the truck came to a stop. Then the emotions were put on pause and syphoned downward. Chris smiled over at Frank and decided a handshake was appropriate. Chris wasn't sure why, but he thrust his hand at Frank who hesitated a second before grabbing hold.
Chris slammed the truck door behind him in a giddy spirit. He skipped up the walkway and put his weight into the doorknob that didn't budge. It would have been too perfect for it to be unlocked, he thought. Chris fished for his keys in his pocket and eventually put himself over the threshold.
Unsurprisingly but no less endearing, Sadie stood with arms across her chest glaring. She knew it was him and could have unlocked the door. Chris even thought she might hav
e locked it right before he came up as a test to make sure he still had his keys and the right to enter her home. Really, he didn't care. Chris reached over to her as fast as he could and wrapped her in a hug before she could turn away.
The hug was stiff with Sadie's arms still folded in front of her but Chris held tight. He would win her over eventually, but he wasn't prepared for how his emotions would react. A few seconds in his chest tightened and his eyes watered. Sadie felt the change and moved her arms away from her chest and around her husband.
It was just a couple tears, Chris thought. It would be over soon, but then with his wife's hands pressing and rubbing his back it grew worse. His torso shook uncontrollably and more tears came out. She was the one that was supposed to be crying, not him. It kept going.
Sadie held Chris. A part of her felt it was a show to win her over, but the longer they stood entwined the more she felt it as sincere. She couldn't keep the anger that Chris deserved on top in the face of his weeping, and eventually she let her own joy at seeing him again reign. Sadie kissed Chris's head and let a couple tears come out too.
Chris found control somewhat and pulled his face out from Sadie's shoulder. He looked her in the eyes and kissed her. It was salty from the tears but wonderful just the same. The touching of their lips added to the indescribable power of the need to be near each other. Sadie held on tight for a longer hug and was happy. Chris felt everything important in the embrace.
“Did you quit yet?” asked Sadie. She finally pulled away enough to get out the question.
Chris didn’t want to say it. He felt the guilt worse than ever for not going through on his word. Finally he relented, “No.”
Sadie pushed herself out of their hug completely. She looked away from Chris and shook her head slightly as if warming up. Chris decided to jump in front of it.
“Tomorrow. It’s happening tomorrow. I have a plan. I needed some backup and I just have to put it together tonight. Then we can put this stupid farce behind us,” said Chris.
The words sounded right, but Sadie’s reaction didn’t meet what he expected. “What do you mean farce? And backup for what? Just quit. Go into Erik’s office or whatever and quit.”
She didn’t know that it was all fake. He had to explain the entire thing. Chris showed her the papers he wrote. The ideas formed as he looked over everything with her. The dots connected. Sadie wasn’t against Chris’s theory, but it meant little until he went through with it. She didn’t care if it was all staged or not, she only cared about it being over.
“What help do you need from me right now?” asked Sadie.
“We need to type it all out. Get a digital copy down because I know I’m not going to be able to get to the files at the lab. Erik already cut off my computer’s access.”
“Then do it.”
“Where are the kids? I thought they would’ve been here… To see me.”
Sadie raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes that showed Chris this question should’ve been brought up a long time ago.
“They’re at friends’ houses. We didn’t know when you were coming back. Did we?”
“Sorry,” said Chris. “Did anything show up on the news about what happened?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t want to watch and find out anything secondhand.”
Chris picked up on the still present hostility and moved forward. He turned on the TV. It clicked in response and began to warm up, but instead of the last channel watched the red screen of death appeared. Text scrolled across the screen that the receiver had lost its signal. Chris popped open the entertainment center and reset the receiver. A minute later and the same red screen.
“What the hell?” said Chris. “It always fixes itself after a reset.”
“It was fine yesterday,” said Sadie. She checked her phone. “My Wi-Fi isn’t working.”
“No, no way!” Chris ran to the bedroom where the modem and router sat. All the lights blinked red. He reset both and was given the same answer. Chris knew Erik was behind it. He must have contacted X-Tech to shut them off.
“You can still type it. You just need another way to put it up on the internet,” said Sadie.
“I can’t believe X-Tech let him do this.”
“You really think Erik is behind our internet outage? X-Tech is horrible about customer service. One of their new hires probably shut it off on his first day out. You’re being paranoid.”
“Maybe.”
“Oh shit, get over it. If you really want to type this, you need to do it now.” Sadie put her hands on her hips waiting for the right response.
“Yeah. Let’s do this.”
Chris was even a little surprised at himself for not dwelling on the situation. Sadie picked up the handwritten notes and a pencil. She scanned and made scribbles on the margins while Chris loaded a new Word document.
“Ready,” said Chris, and Sadie began dictating to him slowly and clearly.
They changed positions periodically with Sadie typing and Chris reciting what he had written. With a few minor additions and deletions, the complete history of Chris’s time at the labs and as a sidekick sat in front of them after three hours. He only stopped for a second to scroll through the document before saving to the hard drive again, just to be sure, and finally to a flash drive.
Holding the tiny plastic memory securely in his hand, Chris focused in on another pressing matter. “What friends?”
“Huh?” asked Sadie.
“What friends’ houses are Gerry and Louise staying at? I want to see them.”
Sadie crossed her arms in front of her chest and moved her weight to the right side; her hip acted as a pointer to the bed. A conniving smile finished the image. “Yeah? You wanna say hi. What about me? I just spent forever helping you out with your essay. Don’t you wanna say hi to me?”
Chris enjoyed seeing the playful offer put forward. It made the task of quitting his job seem as minuscule as it should have been. He leapt from the chair and tackled Sadie to the bed. She squealed with surprise and stretched her neck out for Chris to kiss. He made his way around her collar bone and back to her lips; a long kiss on her lips.
Sadie smiled up as Chris pulled his mouth away from hers to continue, but she stopped him with a swift tumble that moved Chris on his back and her on top. She moved her hands across his chest and dug her pelvis into his crotch. Chris brought his hands up to her chest. He slid his fingers gently around before Sadie grabbed them. She then kicked her leg up to move off the bed and stood on the floor. Chris stayed still on the bed, confused.
“We’ll finish when you get back,” said Sadie.
“What? But we were…”
“More reason for you to hurry home. Especially because I know you’re going to take forever at Frank’s house.”
“Frank’s house? Gerry’s over there hanging out with Simone.”
“Yep. Louise is at Marie’s. The blue house around the corner.”
“I can take the flash drive and upload it from Frank’s computer. Are you really going to make me wait?”
“Hell yes. How does it feel? Maybe you’ll think twice next time, sucker. Now get going. You’re babies miss you. Maybe.”
Chris sat up and as Sadie walked past him he grabbed her in for another kiss. “I’m sorry.”
“I know you are. Just show it now.” Sadie walked out of the room.
Chris gave her a minute and then followed her out. He grabbed his keys and was almost out the door before he remembered.
“Shit. My car is still at the lab. Frank dropped me off. He thinks the gas pump dried out or something. I’m taking yours.”
“Yeah, yeah. Hurry up. I’ll be waiting here, all alone.”
“Love you.”
“Love you too. Bringing home some ice cream wouldn’t hurt you either.”
Chris shut the door and rushed over to the car. It would be faster to hit up Louise’s friend’s house first, he thought.
Louise tried to hold back her excitement, but Ch
ris could tell how happy she was to see him. After Louise told him, Chris never realized that this was the longest time he had been away from his family. They caught up outside the front door of Marie’s house. The discussion stayed firmly on what Louise went through, but Chris was glad to hear it expressed and not shut away. Chris purposely held back almost every detail of the mission including the fake Supers. Eventually there wasn’t enough new information Louise could provide him about her life over the past week. Chris saw it coming and pulled her in for a tight hug before again telling her how much he missed her. She said the same and waved him off.
When Chris pulled up to Frank’s house, the garage was open and Frank was fiddling around inside. Chris walked up the driveway.
“Hey, you probably know why I'm —“
“What the hell took you so long? Sadie want a little lovin'?” asked Frank. His eyes weren't focused on Chris, but past him to the other side of the street.
“Sort of. What are you working on? I'm surprised you're not inside holed up in the bedroom.”
Frank didn't say anything. He put his back to Chris and focused on the bench. Chris came up to his side and saw a handwritten paper. Frank's eyes didn't move from the paper as his hands searched around meaninglessly. Chris finally took the hint and read, “Somebody's watching my house. Car’s parked across the street. Never seen before. Internet, TV cut off.”
As soon as Chris looked away from the paper Frank crumpled it up and tossed it in the garbage.
“I know. Same thing at my house,” said Chris. Frank gave him a dangerous look to stop right there, but Chris didn't. “Everything is a mess and Sadie expects me to clean it up.”
Frank figured out the approach and followed along. “Yeah, the house got pretty fucked up while I was gone. I’ll spend the whole weekend putting it back in order. Come on. You better say hi to your kid before it gets too late.”
They went inside and Frank put his finger to his lips to signal that inside was just as risky a place to talk as outside. It didn’t really matter, because as soon as they were in the house Gerry caught sight of his dad.
Just Another Job Page 20