Netminder

by Jeff Adams

  He popped his helmet on, and I recognized his deep-in-thought expression. If he’d had a pencil in his hand, he would’ve been chewing on the eraser.

  “There’s so much I could say, but I’ll go with this—follow your heart and keep yourself safe.”

  I managed to swallow my urge to weep at how earnest he was.

  “That’s perfect. My heart wants him bad.”

  “I think you’ve got your answer.”

  I grabbed my stick and passed Mitch his. I grabbed one of the pucks from the ledge and tossed it onto the ice.

  “Full ice one-on-one, only posts count as goals.”

  “You’re on,” he said, and the competitive gleam in his eye fired me up. In that moment it was like the past two weeks hadn’t happened.

  SKATING WITH Mitch would be one of the things I missed most.

  After the epic training camp we’d been to, our senior season was set up to be amazing. We’d both improved and were starting to show that in the preseason practices. Even our one-on-one game had changed as both of us seemed able to think a couple moves ahead. It made for a thrilling challenge.

  I’d be able to follow Mitch and the team’s season online—if I could handle it. It would be tough watching and not being a part of it. Even when I was injured, I went to the games, supported the team. I’d be reduced to looking at stats and whatever highlight reels I could find online.

  After Mitch made a particularly spectacular shot that ended with the loudest plink against the crossbar, I stopped, completely overwhelmed.

  “Theo?” Mitch was next to me in a heartbeat, hand on my shoulder.

  I shook my head. “I’m really gonna miss you.” My voice faltered and cracked like when it had changed.

  He simply nodded, and I brought my eyes up to meet his. I couldn’t tell if he cried too or if it was sweat running down his face.

  I slid the helmet off and used my jersey sleeve to wipe my eyes.

  “Let’s not do this now,” Mitch said; his voice also cracked a bit. “We’re wasting ice time.”

  I nodded and attempted a grin. I slid the helmet back on and skated quick to the rink corner where the puck had landed. I took a couple of strides with it before sending it hard to the other end of the rink. We both sprinted after it.

  We played for nearly two hours with just a couple of water breaks. Coach banging on the Plexiglas signaled that our time was up.

  “So this is it?” Mitch said after we’d changed. Neither of us spoke as we cleaned up and put gear away. I knew this wouldn’t be easy, but it proved to be far more difficult. I wanted to take my jersey but couldn’t. Owning anything from my past would be a risk—even if it was just packed in a box.

  “Yeah. But, don’t think I won’t be watching, I’ll know how you’re doing.” I tried to smile. “Give Iris a big hug for me, even though she won’t know it’s from me.”

  “The biggest, man.” He was just about to open the door to the locker room when he stopped and looked back to me. “I know you’ll never do this, but know that if you need something, I’m here. I have no doubt you’ll be able to find me, and if you ever need to, I got your back.”

  I stepped in and we hugged tight. “Thanks, Mitch. For everything.”

  We clapped each other a couple times and walked out to Coach.

  “Mitch, you head out,” he said, “and we’ll leave after you’re safe back home.”

  He nodded, and sadness clouded his face. “Thanks for helping set this up. His secrets are safe with me, I promise.”

  Coach nodded.

  “Take care of yourself.” I put out my fist and he bumped it before heading out the player exit.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  THE MORNING I got back from skating with Mitch, I had a meeting with Mom, Dad, Joanna, and Lorenzo. From the time I got up I couldn’t focus on anything other than trying to guess what I’d hear.

  I went to the conference room with Lorenzo. His demeanor seemed to change from his usual even-keeled to cloudy. By the time we got there, he looked downright concerned. Granted, he was more difficult to read with the eye patch, which he was due to have for several more months.

  Those missing from the meeting—Raptor and John—tugged at the wound that was still raw.

  “Thanks for gathering first thing,” Joanna said. “We wanted to brief you all on what we know currently about Blackbird and what’s going to happen in the next few days.” She looked to Lorenzo, who picked up the tablet in front of him to consult notes.

  “The more we review the Blackbird network, the more we can validate the destruction is significant. We can’t guarantee that it’s complete, but we’ve recovered servers that were connected to the IP’s we identified. In some cases we’ve been able to use the recovered units to access other areas of the network and disable additional machines. We’ll never know if we got everything—much the same that Blackbird likely couldn’t validate if they got our entire network.”

  Everyone around the table nodded as he put the tablet down. My code wiped out more than I’d expected. While Westside had said he’d found my code, he apparently had no time to remove it before I activated it.

  “From a personnel standpoint,” Dad said, “getting their list allowed us to round up a number of agents and struck deep into the heart of their leadership as well. We not only have their director but several of his top deputies. We had worldwide cooperation going after these targets to help bring an end to their reign of chaos. As for our own team, our losses were high, with 23 percent of our agents killed and another 6 percent injured but recovering. It’s unknown currently if all of them will choose to return to work.”

  I hadn’t heard these numbers for TOS losses and those tempered the good news about Blackbird.

  “Winger, can you update on recovery? I know we’re meeting on the rebuild later, but a high-level status now would be great.”

  I’d been asked by so many how we were doing that I could give a status report at any time.

  “We’ve made significant strides in getting the global network back online and should be completed in the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours. Primary applications are already back online. We’re having some trouble with the comm systems in Europe for reasons that we’re still troubleshooting, and I don’t have an ETA on that yet. We’re also having lingering issues with the tracker system in China, Australia, and areas of Japan. We’ve got people on the ground looking at that, particularly in China.”

  I caught Dad’s smile out of the corner of my eye. I felt better today than I had in some time. Seeing Mitch, alongside all the discussion I’d had with Shields and my parents since John’s funeral, helped reduce my stress. Working on the systems recovery helped too, since I enjoyed the work. Things were far from perfect, but at least there were moments I could breathe without worrying about what would happen next.

  “That’s very good progress.” Red Hat looked pleased as she typed notes into her tablet.

  “From the IT staffing standpoint,” Lorenzo said, “we’ve got several excellent candidates in the pipeline, and I’ve made some hires. A couple of them will be here later today so we can get them to work. We’re probably still a good sixty days away from being back to where we were. Our disaster recovery protocols need a full review, and we’ll be updating those starting next week.”

  Joanna nodded, made a few more notes, and then closed the cover on her tablet. “Winger, you played a central role in thwarting Blackbird’s plan, and getting us back up and running with great speed. You’ve also borne some of the worst fallout. I want to talk about what happens from here. Your parents are going to go to Boston as soon as we’re done here. They’ll play the role of the grieving parents and in short order they’ll sell the house and move.”

  “You’ll be glad to know the agency isn’t splitting us up,” Mom said. “But, after a few months, Victor and Katherine Reese will quietly disappear and we’ll take on new identities.”

  I let go a sigh of relief.

&nbs
p; “I plan to continue my usual role here,” Dad said, “going on missions as needed. In the short term, though, I’ll be working more domestically while the team is rebuilt.” Good. Dad loved fieldwork. “Your mom on the other hand has some big news.”

  Dad looked so proud as a wide smile spread across his face.

  “Red Hat asked me to take over the director role stepping into Raptor’s shoes. I’ve excepted the role effective immediately.”

  No wonder Dad smiled, and I couldn’t hold mine back. Mom had done so much in the field and training new agents over the years that she’d be amazing at the job. In a very unagent move, I got up, came up behind her, and wrapped her in the biggest hug I could with her sitting in a chair.

  “Congratulations. That’s awesome.” She put her hands on mine, and we held it for just a moment before I returned to my seat.

  Everyone smiled, but suddenly it felt wrong to do that given the losses.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, reining myself in, “that may not have been the right reaction given what’s brought you the promotion. But it’s still cool that we’ll be in such good hands.”

  “It’s okay,” Joanna said. “Snowbird’s going to be great, and we shouldn’t shun the opportunity to celebrate what we can given how we’ve suffered.”

  So Mom and Dad knew their future. “What’s the plan for me?”

  I looked between all of them unsure of where to look for the answer.

  “You’ll live and work here for at least the next six months. It’s important to keep you out of sight.” When Mom spoke, I couldn’t decide if she was being director or Mom. “I know that’s not exactly a fair request for a seventeen-year-old, but part of the time will be spent assessing how much risk Blackbird still poses and at the same time constructing your new identity. And, as the director of TOS, I want you here working alongside Doc and the team to make us better than before. Once the six months has passed, you can decide where you choose to live and what you do.”

  There were almost undetectable tinges in her voice that signaled she wasn’t completely thrilled with the plan. From the TOS angle, it made sense for my safety and the needs of the organization. It was harder to swallow as someone who wasn’t going to get to finish high school or follow through on any of the plans I had for senior year or college.

  “Understood,” I said in my best, confident agent tone.

  Mom cracked and tears fell like I’d never seen from her before. I put my hand on hers and tried to tell her it was okay, but her distress only increased. Dad’s hand came down on top of mine, and he also put his arm around her.

  “I didn’t want this for you. Not ever. Neither of us did.” She looked at me and Joanna went to the credenza against the wall and got a Kleenex box. She placed it on the table in front of Mom.

  “It’s the risk of the job,” I said, managing to stay calm—I must’ve tapped into the same thing that helps her keep focus when I’m upset. “I’ve known that for as long as I’ve known what you two do. Yes, this is hard and while I’ll miss graduating with my friends, I completely understand why.” My voice cracked right at the end.

  Lorenzo teared up too. He always looked out for me and periodically expressed concern over how much TOS relied on me while I was so young.

  “I knew last night when I said goodbye to Mitch that a part of my life was over. I hadn’t expected six months in here, but I get it.” I got my composure back, and Mom seemed to find hers again. “If nothing else, in the off hours, Doc and I can have plenty of video game challenges.”

  “For sure,” he said without hesitation, and everyone chuckled as the tension broke.

  Mom, Dad, and I kept our close huddle as I continued with a different topic. “Can I ask what’s happened with Eddie?”

  Mom looked to Joanna in this case. She either didn’t know, which wasn’t likely, or didn’t want to have to break the news.

  “Eddie’s father has eluded our efforts to apprehend him,” Joanna said. “As for what happens going forward, we believe him that he doesn’t want anything to do with his father or Blackbird. He also doesn’t want to work for us. Certainly he assisted in the rescue of Mitchell Rhodes and, from the debriefing we received from you and D-man, we know he was valuable to you during your captivity.”

  She took a pause, and I couldn’t tell if she was done or not. “In the investigation following the Glenwood case,” she continued, her voice strained—clearly not wanting to discuss this with me, “we discovered the point you became compromised. One of the police officers who handled the bike accident was a Blackbird agent who told Cochrane that you’d been nabbed because of your tracker. It was a fault of ours that we didn’t have the traffic incident as buttoned up as we thought we did. From there it’s clear that Eddie was used by his father and Blackbird.”

  So the blown cover wasn’t my fault after all.

  My heart was trying to get ahead of my brain, and I forced myself to take a moment before I spoke. I’d thought this through and they needed to know that.

  “What if he comes with me? Starts whatever new life I start? He’ll need some sort of security clearance since he’ll know I work here but—”

  “I don’t know—” Mom started.

  “What was he supposed to do?” I looked to her, feeling confident in my request. “It’s not like he could just go to the police for help.” I looked to Joanna. “If I hadn’t spoke up, what was the TOS plan for him?”

  “We hadn’t decided yet,” Mom said.

  “Okay, so my recommendation is we find something for him to do while I’m here, and then he and I leave together. Maybe we break up before the six months is over, so we’ll need a contingency in case that happens. But I want to try to put things back together. I know you can’t answer this right now, but think about it. Talk to him and see what he wants. Give him some options. I came into TOS willing, and he’s been dragged into all of this.”

  “I’ll think about it and try to leave my ‘Mom feelings’ on the side.”

  “We can talk about those as a family.” I smiled and got one back from both of them. “But if Eddie wants me back, I’m all in.”

  Mom wasn’t even trying to hide her displeasure, but Dad nodded before stealing a look at his watch. “We have to get to the plane.”

  “Give me a good funeral, okay?” I grinned at them.

  Dad shook his head with a little groan. Who would’ve thought a funeral could break the tension I’d created. “How can you even joke about that?”

  “Might as well. Thinking about it any other way only makes it worse.”

  “We’ll be back tomorrow, and we’ll talk. Meanwhile, if something comes up, don’t hesitate to call.”

  “Will do.” They got up, and I followed suit as did Lorenzo and Joanna. “Give Mitch and Iris an extra hug, okay?”

  “Of course.”

  We hugged, and they filed out with Joanna. Lorenzo and I hung back.

  “Are you holding up as good as you seem?” Lorenzo asked as we stood just inside the room.

  I shrugged and threw my hands up. “I think so. It’s weird and confusing. But the last past couple of days and all the talk as helped.”

  A small smile broke across his face, but he winced. I shot him a questioning look. “Sometimes it hurts to smile. I’ll be glad when that stops. I’m trying to take as little pain medication as I can. Only doing it when my leg gets too fidgety or something. It clouds my thinking too much, and there’s no time for that.”

  “How about I turn the tables? How are you?”

  He considered his answer, which I didn’t expect. “I have a lot of anger,” he finally said, and that surprised me. “This should’ve never happened. I mean yeah”—he waved his hand in front of his face—“Blackbird could do whatever scheme to disrupt things, but to come after all those people…. And it happened on my watch. I don’t want to lose like that again.”

  I felt the same. I’d vented a lot of anger to Shields.

  “To the future,” I said as I ca
me up next to him, on the side without the cane, and put my arm around his shoulder. I went for upbeat because neither of us needed to wallow in negativity.

  “You sound like Buzz Lightyear.” I rolled my eyes and shook my head at him before I released him so he could walk easier as we entered the hall. “Have you seen—”

  “Winger?” I turned to the stunned-sounding voice that had interrupted me.

  “Oh, wow. D… uhm?” I had my mouth open to speak but didn’t know what to call him. I held out my fist, and he greeted it with a bump.

  “Locksmith.” Dean grinned. “Man, it good to see you. The news said you were dead. I should’ve known that wasn’t true.” He gave a nod to Lorenzo as he came up next to us. “Doctor P, good to see you in person.” They did a more traditional handshake.

  “You didn’t tell me you hired him.” I looked to Lorenzo. “That’s great.”

  “I did such a good job working with you, they offered me a gig. I even got to keep my name.” He sounded more excited than I’d ever heard him.

  “Once Locksmith is done with training, I thought he and Split Screen would make an amazing team.”

  “For sure,” I said, letting Dean’s excitement take over. I’d hoped he’d find a place that appreciated his talents. He’d be outstanding here. “We need to catch up once you’re settled in.”

  “Yeah, man.”

  He stole a look at his watch. “Look, I gotta go or I’m gonna be late for the next session. I’ll find you later.”

  “Cool.”

  We traded a quick half hug before he took off.

  “That’s awesome,” I said as Lorenzo and I continued toward our offices and the overview of the comm system issues that awaited us.