Die Again To Save Tomorrow (Die Again to Save the World Book 2)

by Ramy Vance

  Everyone was already seated when Rueben arrived, and Rosa was passing out popcorn. Buzz wasn’t there, but the screen flickered on and off, and Rueben assumed he must be in some control room.

  Rosa smiled and handed him a bowl and a beer. “Mr. Rueben, it’s always good to see you.”

  He took them and smiled. After what he had just been through with Binnie, Marshall, and Mike, he needed some alcohol. Besides, he'd heard Buzz mention earlier to Aki that they had plenty of time to sober up before the U.N. bombing went down this evening.

  Rosa peered at Rueben's cheek. “What happened to your face?”

  He frowned, and she scurried away.

  Buzz came back in the room holding a remote control. “Okay, people. What we have here is the security footage from the bakery. We’re going to go over it and see if we can come up with some clues for how to capture him.”

  He shook the remote to underscore his point. “And remember, I said ‘capture.’ We are not on a mission to kill. None of us want to go to prison, me least of all.”

  They all laughed, and Buzz kept going. “So, our plan is to capture him and hold him off until the end of tonight so he can’t execute whatever scheme he has for the keynote address that’s in…yikes…about eight hours.”

  They all whistled and checked their watches.

  “That’s right. So the purpose of today’s viewing is to study how our assailant moves and to see if we can discern any other details on how we can beat this guy. We’re all a bunch of experts here in our respective fields—”

  Buzz stopped and smiled at the back of the room. “Hello, Binnie.”

  Rueben turned to look at her. She gave him the worst look and smiled at Buzz. “Hey, Buzz.” She sat on the edge of a chair and flexed her legs. “Don’t let me be in the way.”

  All the men in the room sat captivated, and Aki groaned.

  Marshall finally found his tongue. “Buzz, who the hell is this?”

  Buzz waved. “This is Binnie. Don’t worry. She’s totally cool. She’s also totally—as they say—DTF.”

  That met with whistles and laughs. Mike was the first to try. “Why don’t you come over here, Binnie? Let’s get to know each other.”

  “Ohh…you’re hot. I’d love to get to know you.”

  Rueben wanted to throw up. “Are we going to watch the footage or have an orgy?”

  Mike laughed. “Who says we have to choose?”

  Buzz and Mike laughed, and Binnie sat on Mike’s lap. They whispered sweet nothings, and Buzz turned on the footage.

  The surveillance film was silent and jumpy, and Rueben worried that Mike would see the end where it revealed the two Ruebens. This would be too difficult to explain, and given that he trusted Mike Fury about as far as he could throw him, the last thing he wanted was to explain his quirky little secret. He hoped Buzz wouldn’t be that careless. He cleared his throat toward Buzz and gave him a questioning glance.

  Buzz winked and shook his head. “Don’t worry. It’s all taken care of.”

  The footage started with Marshall sitting at the table alone and bored, surrounded by empty cake samples. Marshall took a bite of something, made a face, and pushed it away. He checked his phone.

  Aki showed up, disheveled, and Marshall gave her an odd look.

  Rueben didn’t see it the first time, but now he recognized that look. That was his I don’t buy your lie face that Rueben remembered from growing up. Man, he didn’t get away with anything when he was a kid.

  What was he thinking? He didn’t get away with anything now. If Rueben had been the one out there, Marshall would have launched into a sarcastic, insult-laden interrogation until he forced Rueben to tell the truth. As it was, he didn’t say anything to Aki.

  Now in the theater, Marshall scoffed. “That is the worst imitation of sex hair I’ve ever seen.”

  Aki turned toward him. “What do you know? I could look like that.”

  “Nobody looks like that. Especially not after bathroom sex.”

  Rueben buried his head in his palm. “Dad, really.”

  “Nah, that’s not the way a woman looks after she’s been freshly schnogged over a bathroom sink. That’s what a woman thinks she looks like, but it’s not what she really looks like.”

  Aki’s eyes got big. “And you would know this, how?”

  Marshall winked. “I was in the Navy as a young man. “

  Mike whistled and clapped. “Marshall’s got the con.”

  Buzz cheered and high-fived Marshall, and he continued, “But I’m a gentleman. I don’t share those stories in mixed company.”

  Aki raised an eyebrow. “You will find I can hold my own out there with the boys.”

  Marshall nodded at her. “I’m sure you can. But it’s how my parents raised me. And how I raised Rueben, too. Not that he remembers.”

  “Dad, really. Would you shut down the sarcasm machine for one night?”

  Aki laughed and ruffled her hair to make the guys laugh. Fortunately enough, Pete entered the bakery on the screen, with his hood up and sunglasses on. Everyone got quiet.

  Buzz pointed him out to Mike. “That’s our man.”

  Mike’s expression turned serious, and he watched the frame intently with Binnie still on his lap. Rueben was interested to know what Binnie might have to say about the footage. Since she was, in essence, a computer, her analysis might be worth listening to.

  Pete alternated fighting with everyone in the bakery. Ernie, Gus, Aki, Rueben, Marshall. It was embarrassing how badly he kicked everyone’s asses. But, Rueben mused, since Pete was really himself, he’d actually whooped all of them, right? He sat back and watched his moves. He could learn a lot from himself.

  Mike was the first one to comment. “He’s not consistent.”

  Buzz stared into the screen. “How do you mean?”

  “Look at the way he kicks there. It’s like, he’s great with the reflex and the release, but on the follow-through, he just bumbles it. Replay it.”

  Buzz backtracked a few seconds and slowed the speed down. Indeed, Pete lifted his leg to kick Ernie and sent great force into Ernie’s stomach. Ernie’s facial expressions contorted, and then he recoiled before hitting the ground. But a second before Ernie hit the ground, it was almost like Pete lost his balance a little.

  Mike peered closer. “Replay it again.” Buzz replayed the clip, and Mike leaned forward. “Yeah, it’s like he’s…dragging his left leg. But only slightly.”

  Aki set her popcorn down. “Oh my gosh, he’s right. See if he does it the whole time.”

  Buzz forwarded to the next clip of Pete kicking. This time it was at Rueben. Rueben grimaced at the idea of kicking his ass. But once he got over that, he noticed they were right. “It’s like it’s injured or something.”

  Marshall pulled out his glasses and edged forward on the seat. “Play another one. I think I notice a pattern.”

  Buzz forwarded to another kick. This time Pete kicked Aki.

  She shook her head. “Same thing. There’s something there with that left leg.”

  Marshall pointed at the screen. “No, see how that recoil looks so jerky?”

  Everyone in the room agreed in unison. Jerky was the word they were all searching for.

  Marshall wagged his finger. “That’s something seniors would recognize. That’s a hip problem. He’s had some kind of hip injury or replacement. That’s the only way someone ends up moving like that. But he’s so young. It would surprise me if he’s had something like that.”

  Buzz tapped the remote against his finger and peered at Binnie. “Hm. A metal hip replacement…”

  They all watched the footage for a few minutes. Ernie wrestled Pete to the ground, and the tape ended.

  Mike groaned. “Where’s the rest of it?”

  Buzz winked at Rueben. “That was all I was able to get from the shop owner. She’s pissed that he tore up the shop.”

  Marshall scratched his forehead. “You know, I think I might have an idea to catch him.”<
br />
  Everyone looked at him, and he removed his glasses and hung them off his shirt. “I know the metal pin in his hip wouldn’t be magnetic, but I glimpsed that fancy hi-tech body armor beneath his hoodie. Now that's definitely magnetic."

  Aki, Buzz, and Rueben agreed, but they were confused.

  Marshall paused. “So, we could use a magnet. One of those giant magnets that they attach to the cranes to move stuff around in junkyards.”

  Rueben leaned back in his seat. That was a good idea. Marshall continued, “We lure him into a fight, then the magnet will stop him as long as none of us are carrying any metal.”

  Buzz nodded slowly. “I can’t think of a single reason that wouldn’t work. Unless it's some non-magnetic alloy…probably not, though.”

  Aki smiled. “You’ve still got it, old man.”

  Marshall narrowed his eyes at her. “I guess I deserve it after the bad sex hair comment.”

  She laughed, and Mike high-fived Marshall and mimed a worshipping gesture. “I just got to say, dude, you are badass. Seriously, I wish my dad was that badass.”

  Rueben had to admit that Mike was good with people. In less than an hour, he’d made closer friends with Marshall than Rueben had in twenty-five years.

  Suddenly, Buzz clapped for attention. “Okay, so we have to come up with a concrete plan. Marshall, do you know where to get one of those magnets?”

  Marshall shrugged. “Sure, there’s a scrapyard in Brooklyn. The guy that owns it, well, let’s just say he owes me some favors. I’ll call over there and arrange to get one.”

  “Perfect.”

  Marshall pulled out an old-school flip phone from its hip holster, and Buzz turned to the remaining three.

  Rueben stood and leaned against the chairs, clenching the chair back.

  Buzz kept going. “I'm not sure why Pete hasn't tried to come after us again. He must be busy making preparations for his attack on the U.N. building. So, we need to figure out how to lure this guy into a trap—and without the CIA's 'help.' How do we do that?”

  Rueben spoke up. “Well, it would depend on where he is right now.”

  Aki nodded. “Too bad we don’t have a cell or anything for him.”

  “Yeah, all we have is that footage from last night. If we can tell where he was going after that…”

  Buzz snapped his fingers. “I'll get back into the city CCTV cams and try to follow him all night and all day until we can get a current location. Although I doubt I'll be able to find much on him… Remember how good he was at evading security cameras back when we were tracking Pout the same way? Back when he was just a guy in a white hoodie with stripes on his shoulders?” He paused. "But you know, I could try to triangulate the signal he was using to track Marshall's cell phone."

  Rueben scoffed. "You may be a genius, but I don't think that's possible. There's no way that Pete is still using that signal. He would know that we could trace it."

  "Ah, young grasshopper, my AI's experimental predictive algorithm says it can."

  Aki and Rueben nodded at each other, and Mike whistled. “Nice, bro. What do you need me to do? I’m ready for duty, boss.”

  Rueben rolled his eyes and had an idea. "Why don't you stay here and keep watch on Buzz in case Pete shows up?"

  "Right on! If he does, I'll show ol' Metal Hip how to fight like a real man. Good idea, Robert."

  Buzz nodded in approval and turned to Aki. “Why don’t you guys come up with a location to lure him to once we find him? We can set it up with that magnet. Then we’ve got him.”

  Aki nodded. Marshall got off his phone. “We’ll meet up with my buddy in an hour. He’s got a big one we can use.”

  This set off a round of applause, and Aki and Mike went into high gear. Rueben was about to join their planning party when Marshall came up to him. He had an odd look on his face and dropped his palm on Rueben’s shoulder. “Have a beer with me.”

  Rueben cleared his throat in surprise. “Um, sure.” Was he about to share a true father-son moment with Marshall?

  Marshall cocked his head toward the door. “I’m sure Buzz has some kind of mini-bar in here somewhere.”

  “I think he has one in every room.”

  Marshall and Rueben both laughed, and Rueben scratched his head in confusion. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d shared an actual laugh with his dad.

  “I think the main house bar is in the game room.”

  They headed down the long, carpeted hallway toward the game room. Rueben shoved his hands in his pockets. Now with his temporary moratorium on sarcasm and insults, he didn’t know what to say to his dad. “Good idea about the magnet.”

  Marshall’s eyes glazed over. “Well, it’ll get the job done.”

  That was all there was to say about that. They arrived at the game room, and Rueben opened the door.

  Marshall scoffed. “When you said game room, I thought you meant pool tables.”

  Rueben laughed. “No, I meant video games.”

  Lit up by a sleek blue light, the game room had a row of eight screens, each about fifty-five inches, mounted into the wall. It was two rows of four, all of which had the same login screen for Call of Duty. Sitting before the screens were two rows of black leather chairs, each with a small tabletop hosting a video game controller.

  Marshall rolled his eyes. “I thought it was too good to be true that he was a grown-up.”

  There was the old Marshall. Now the world was normal.

  Rueben pointed toward the counter, a long, sleek black marble fixture. “Bar’s over here. You can quit whining and get back to your regular, drunk-ass self.”

  Behind the counter was fully stocked, and Rueben reached underneath and opened a cooler. He slid a beer across to Marshall, who scowled as he twisted off the top. “You know, if you’d seen what I’d seen on the force, you’d be in therapy like the rest of your pussy ass generation.”

  Rueben grabbed a beer for himself and held it to his forehead to calm his rising blood pressure. “Maybe I need therapy. That’s my problem.”

  Marshall scoffed and nearly choked on the drink. “You’ve got just one?”

  Rueben sighed long and hard. “You know, you sit and talk about your glory days on the force, but you know, you’re not dead yet.”

  Marshall’s eyes flashed at him. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means you’re not dead. You can’t keep living in the past, on some washed-up stories about…Canadian milk smugglers.”

  Marshall slammed his drink on the counter and stared at him. “You got a lot nerve, kid. You don’t have a damn clue about what it was like out on the force, day in and day out—“

  Rueben sighed again. “I’m sure I don’t. But you know, we’re doing something pretty great here. I’m doing something pretty great here, and you don’t even notice it. You’re still so wrapped up in the past with the police force.”

  Marshall gestured helplessly around the room. “I’m here, aren’t I? And I came up with the winning idea that none of you kids had a clue how to execute.”

  Rueben shifted in his seat. Marshall was right—he was investing in this new adventure. That’s not exactly what he was trying to say. The words danced around in his head, and he couldn’t spit them out. The beer probably didn't help.

  Just say it, Rueben. Just say what you want to say. Tell him, “Why can’t you ever be proud of me?”

  He looked over at Marshall slumped over on the barstool, wild gray hair sticking out in all directions with a brown bottle in front of him. His dad toyed with a stray paperclip on the counter, and Rueben couldn’t say it.

  He wished he could be one of those people that, fuck it, didn’t care what their parents thought of them if they thought of them at all. He wished he could be completely free from his childhood and family life. But the truth was, Marshall needed him, and without Rueben, Marshall had no one. But he still couldn’t say what he wanted to say.

  Marshall looked up at him and caught him staring. “Wha
t?”

  Rueben shook his head and rose. “Forget it. Thanks for the beer.”

  Marshall sighed and rubbed his temple. “Rueben.”

  Rueben turned to face him but didn’t answer.

  “That’s not what I wanted to tell you.”

  “Then what did you want?”

  He played with the paperclip, then flicked it across the room. “I saw your mom.”

  Rueben’s eyes widened. “What?”

  “At the Exit Bar.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Monday, May 22, 1:05 p.m.

  “What do you mean you saw her?”

  Guilt dripped from Marshall's face. “She was there, at the bar.”

  “Did you…talk to her at all?”

  “I tried to. I rushed off after her when I saw her, but then everything went down with that hoodied psychopath, and she disappeared again.”

  “She ran away again? She just…” Rueben choked back the hurt. He never could talk about Carolyn.

  Marshall sighed. “I have to tell you the truth about something.”

  “Okay.”

  “The day she left…it wasn’t exactly like I told you.”

  “You didn’t tell me anything. She was there in the morning when I left for school and gone when I got home. I never saw her again. Except…maybe after the gunman took off.”

  “Yeah. That’s the thing…there’s more to it. A lot more.”

  “I’m sure there was. I always hoped one day I’d figure it out. I mean, did you come home to find her in bed with another man or something?”

  Marshall recoiled. “God, no. I need you to know that. Your mother was never unfaithful to me.” Marshall sipped his drink and stared into the distance. “There’s just so much…so much you don’t know. And I should have told you the whole story. Maybe then you wouldn’t be so fucked about women.”

  “I’m not fucked about women.”

  Marshal raised his eyebrows. “When was the last time you got laid?”

  “I am not having this conversation with you.”

  “Fine, fair enough. But I don't think things are as peachy between you and Aki as you’d like to think. But I digress. A talk for another time, maybe. Let me explain what happened that day.” His voice dropped to a low tone, and he twirled the beer cap on the counter as he spoke.