Change in Plans

by Meagan Fink

  “Everything’s going to be OK, right?” she asks him.

  “Of course, don’t worry; I’ll make sure you get him back; I promised remember? And I always keep my promises,” he says smiling. This time his smile seems more sincere, and she feels herself start to relax. She nods at him and watches as he pulls out a piece of paper. At the end of their last conversation he had been kind enough to give them his current contact number. Luca puts the piece of paper away as he calls Isaac from the train station phone booth.

  “Hello Luca, how’s the weather in Florida?” asks Isaac. Each time Tita hears his voice it is cold and calculating, no warmth at all. Even if she didn’t know anything about the guy, she knew she wouldn’t like him once they had met.

  “Fine, put Dyton on,” he says.

  “Will do, oh, and don’t try telling the kid anything, I’ll be listening,” says Isaac. Luca then hands the phone over to Tita. The few seconds of silence are agonizing. She waits. Nothing. She casts a worried glance at Luca. He’s leaning next to her with his ear to the phone. He glances at her, but this time there’s no smile.

  There’s a rustling and then, “Tita?”

  She lets out a relieved breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding and smiles. “Hi Dyton it’s me, are you all right?” she asks, her voice strained as she tries to hold back the emotions. She needed to sound confident for his sake and assure him everything would be OK, even if she didn’t believe it herself.

  “I’m fine, Tita w-what’s going on? I’m scared, Tita” he says, with a hitch in his voice.

  “I can’t say, but it’s going to be OK. Dyton, you remember on the fire escape, do you remember what I said?”

  She pauses and hears him sniffling and then, “Yeah, just a few moments of fear and then it’s over.”

  “That’s right, just a few seconds of bravery, OK Dyton?”

  “OK, but why are we in---?” and then his voice is gone. There’s more rustling on the other end and then Isaac comes back on.

  “There, you got to hear from him. I’ve fulfilled my part of the deal and now it’s your turn; find Blackson, then give us a call, and we’ll bring Dyton there. Unless you call within 24 hours, I will destroy everything you care about. Do I make myself clear?” he asks.

  Tita feels a chill throughout her body as she recognizes the exact words she had used to threaten him.

  “We’ll get it done, Isaac, just don’t hurt him and everything will go as planned,” says Luca. Isaac hangs up without a response. Tita puts the phone back on its stand and looks at Luca.

  “Are you OK?” he asks her. She gives a weak nod. She had heard from Dyton and he was all right, she should be happy about that. But, now it was hitting her what she was about to do; she was going to turn over her grandfather to the people he had been trying so desperately to avoid.

  Why are you so upset? You’ve never met the man. You have no idea who he is or what he’s like. You shouldn’t feel bad about exchanging him for Dyton, she thinks. Yet, isn’t that what the Morans want? If that was something they would do, she should try her hardest to avoid it? But it’s Dyton. If it was anyone else, she wouldn’t do it; but she couldn’t risk losing Dyton permanently, she couldn’t.

  “So we have one day to find a Greg Blackson,” she says.

  Luca nods at her and glances around probably looking for any suspicious faces. “Do you know where he lives?”

  “Yeah, my mother said a, a West Pollis Drive? Or something West Drive,” she says.

  “Alright, let’s go find a cab and get your brother back,” says Luca.

  15

  “This is all wrong!” screams Isaac. He grabs his knife on the other side of his desk and throws it at the map on the wall, the point hitting Florida. The hilt wobbles for a second, then stills, then the knife falls to the ground with a clatter. He screams again in frustration and runs a hand through his hair. Everything was going wrong, and it was all because Jason had to step in.

  “Bring him in!” he yells at the door. Aidan shoves Dyton Lasko through the door and he falls to the ground. Aidan walks in after him and picks Dyton up by his jacket and shoves him to Isaac’s desk. Dyton glares at Aidan with a black eye. The kid should have known not to fight back when they had ended his conversation with his sister. He had to learn the hard way.

  Dyton then turns his attention to Isaac and his glare hardens. He has to give the kid some credit, none of his own men had the guts to glare at him; but, then again, they knew the consequences of standing up to him.

  “Dyton Lasko, I must say you have proven to be a problem,” says Isaac, sitting down in his chair trying to calm down. “Stand up straight kid, it’s bad for your posture,” he says. Dyton seems to slouch even more. With an irritated gesture of his hand, Aidan starts to walk up to him and Dyton straightens immediately, as if he’s about to hail Hitler. Isaac grins at the thought, Dyton was addressing him not Hitler.

  “Good, now as I was saying, your presence here wasn’t originally intended. But, I’m afraid, there has been a change in plans and here you are. You see this was supposed to be a simple plan, Luca comes in, persuades your sister to take him to your Grandfather, and kill you all, very simple. But, someone had the idea to add some more incentive,” he says, with distaste and gestures to Dyton.

  “So that’s what I am, incentive? Luca was right, you are insane. Tita won’t be bossed around by you, she has a knack for beating up stupid bullies,” says Dyton. His voice is even, but Isaac can see the fear in the kid’s eyes.

  “Oh, but you’re wrong, she has already agreed to my terms and is on her way to betray your grandfather as we speak,” says Isaac starting to perk up. So what if Jason had stepped in, Isaac would be the one to complete this mission and no one else.

  “And how would you know?” asks Dyton. Poor kid, he still doesn’t understand.

  “Dyton don’t you see it yet? I have someone on the inside someone who would know if something was to change and to make sure things went according to plan. Come on Dyton, I would say you’re a smart kid, now who do you think I’m talking about?”

  Dyton looks down in thought and then the realization dawns on him, he starts shaking his head.

  “He wouldn’t; the way he talked about you, he hates you, he wouldn’t help you.”

  Isaac laughs, “Yes, I’m sure he does hate me. I’m not a fan of Luca myself, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t help us. Besides, he didn’t want to do this. If he didn’t, then what he told you would be true; our organization would have to kill him after the stunt he pulled.”

  “What stunt?”

  “Oh, it was a while ago. I told our father he wasn’t ready to go but Father insisted. So Luca went along, and, well let’s just say that by withholding some information about a certain little girl, that some events led to our Father’s death,” says Isaac, with a sneer.

  “Wait, go where, what little girl?” asks Dyton.

  Isaac has to stop himself from responding or the kid would pull out all the information he needed. “It doesn’t matter, what’s done is done,” he says, ending the topic. “So Dyton, did your sister ever tell you where your grandfather lives?”

  Isaac needed to make sure that the location Tita gave him wasn’t a trick, and yet, he had no way of knowing for sure. Yes, Luca would tell him but what if the boy had changed sides? Then what would he do. He needed an answer to compare with Tita’s. He only hoped that Dyton would provide him with the information he needed.

  “Ha-ha! You think I know where our grandfather is?” asks Dyton, laughing. The kid dared laugh at him? Dyton Lasko, the son of a traitor, laughed at him; Isaac Moran the leader of Blackheart, that couldn’t stand.

  Isaac frowns and his anger starts to rise. The kid was laughing at him. His pulse starts to pound against his eardrums, and he clenches his jaw and glances at Aidan and nods. Aidan walks up to Dyton, grabs him by the sh
oulder and whirls him around, so that his gut meets a fist. He cries out, and Aidan pushes him to the floor as Isaac gets up. No one laughed at Isaac Moran. Isaac walks around his desk and leans against it so he was in front of Dyton. He set his hand on the kid’s trembling shoulder and squeezes it hard.

  “I don’t like it when people laugh at me, Dyton. But I told Tita that you would be treated as a guest; and you are, so I can’t kill you, at least not now. So I’ll ask again, do you know where your grandfather lives? A simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ will suffice.”

  “He lives in Florida,” gasps Dyton, still trying to get to his feet; he manages to just sit up clutching his stomach. Aidan glances at Isaac, silently asking if he can punch the kid again; he shakes his head.

  “Don’t you think I know that? I’ll give you one more chance to answer; and I want a specific answer, an address,” says Isaac, his voice deadly calm.

  “If Luca is supposedly working for you, wouldn’t you already know? Besides I just found out that I have any family at all. All I know is that he lives in Tallahassee, Florida, that’s it,” he says with the glare back in his eyes. Isaac stares him down waiting for him to break eye contact. He doesn’t. Tita taught him well. You never look away from your enemy because it shows weakness. It shows weakness. Dyton looks so weak, yet in a way, he’s not showing any weakness; the thought makes Isaac smile. He then starts to laugh. In his eyes the kid was the very definition of weakness, yet he wasn’t weak.

  “Don’t worry kid, you’ll only be here for a little longer until we have an exact location and we shall see your sister. I’m sure she’s just dying to see you,” he says with a malicious grin. With a gesture from Isaac, Aidan grabs Dyton by his shoulders and yanks him back out the door.

  He’ll see her only if he survives that long.

  16

  Tita and Luca step out of the cab and take in the view of the street that her grandfather was supposed to live on. Tita had expected a street with multiple, rundown-looking houses like the other homes she had seen around town, but this street was completely different.

  “Your grandfather lives here?” asks Luca, gawking at what was in front of them.

  The street wasn’t even a paved street but just a nicely kept dirt road, bordered by tall elm trees whose branches interlaced at the top. But that wasn’t what caught her eye; it was the house at the end of the road.

  It was the biggest house that she had ever seen, a bona fide mansion. It looked to be at least three stories tall, painted white with a baby blue trim, and five windows on each floor. The strange thing was that the windows were barred, but that seemed to increase the beauty somehow. Behind the house was a forest full of what she thought to be pine trees. It was so dense with trees, she couldn’t see what lay on the other side.

  “It’s beautiful,” sighs Tita, as their driver speeds back down the road.

  A large fountain stood at the front of the house, with the scene depicting a woman and two children playing in the water. Flowers lined the circular walkway, and little ceramic animals stared at them as they walked toward the house. Be a bummer if this place were ever bombed, thinks Tita sadly. And just to think that her grandfather actually owned this place. If only she had taken Dyton here when they had first come to America, they could have lived like royalty. No point in thinking about what ifs, she counsels herself. They were here now and it wasn’t to gawk at the scenery.

  “Come on, let’s go meet my grandfather,” says Tita, pulling Luca after her as he still stares up at the house.

  Tita opens the small gate that leads to a front patio covered in hanging plants, intermingled wind chimes, and even more, much smaller, fountains. She walks up to the door and takes a deep breath before pushing the doorbell. A cheerful tune rings through the house.

  She looks around at the ceiling above the door and sees four security cameras, one in each corner, the name Vericon printed on the sides. Each seems to be a foot long and six inches wide. What was he protecting, that needed this much security? The camera in front of them and to their left, moves; they glance at it and Luca waves.

  “Someone’s paranoid,” he says, glancing at all the cameras.

  “You would be too if your family was trying to kill you,” she says.

  “They are,” he reminds her, smirking. She blushes. That’s right, oops.

  “But I’m not this bad; I mean this is over the top, did you see those windows?” he asks, and she nods. It is a little dramatic.

  Someone peaks through the windows and stares at them. It’s an older man, maybe in his mid-seventies; he’s thin looking and frail, has a receding hairline, and a white mustache. This is her grandfather? When she had thought about him, she had pictured a big brute; why, she had no idea, as this guy was the complete opposite of what she had imagined.

  He looks them up and down, as if assessing whether or not they were a threat. He then lets the curtain fall and moves to the door. There are clicking noises as he opens the lock, all of the locks. At least a minute go by of him just unlocking the door; he then swings the door wide open with a huge grin on his face.

  “You have my birds!” he says, looking directly at Tita. Tita glances behind her to see if he was talking to someone else; no, he was talking to her.

  “Um, your birds sir?” she asks.

  “Yes, yes, my birds, the newly discovered blue-winged teal and mute swan, you have them don’t you?” he asks, expectantly.

  “Uh, we don’t have any birds, sir,” says Luca. The man just stares at the two of them as if they had each sprouted an extra head, and then he snaps out of it, shaking his head.

  “They were supposed to come today,” he says, scratching his chin and muttering to himself, something about a loon and premium stuffing. He then stops abruptly and then looks at them as if he had forgotten they were there.

  “Do you want to see my birds?” he asks, excitedly, glancing at each of them. Luca catches her eye and raises his eyebrows. This must be her grandfather, it was the right address and they couldn’t just leave because he was insane; so she walks inside.

  The house looked even bigger on the inside than it had from the road.

  The whole house is made of a polished dark wood. A large crystal chandelier hangs from the ceiling and glints in the sunlight. In front of them is a large wooden staircase that leads to a platform and then branches off in opposite directions.

  Tita looks to her left and catches sight of a large dining room. A huge dinner table is placed in the middle of the room, with enough chairs for at least twenty people.

  There are elegant cream curtains that hang from a large arch-shaped window behind the table to let in light. To her right is an even bigger sitting room, with cream-colored chairs and couches decorated with a blue swirling pattern.

  “Your home is quite beautiful,” she says, glancing around one more time. Then she looks closer, and she knows what birds Greg was talking about.

  Everywhere, covering tables and shelves, even hanging from the ceiling as if in midflight, were stuffed birds. Greg catches her looking and his smile grows.

  “Oh yes, these are my birds; this is Lucy, and then this one is Emily, and the one next to her is John,” he says, pointing at random birds.

  “What’s with all the security?” Luca asks abruptly. Tita glances at him to see him eyeing the ceiling; even more cameras are inside. Greg’s smile fades, his mouth morphing into a tight line.

  “Oh, well I want to make sure my birds are safe; they are very valuable you know, worth hundreds,” something in his eyes changed. Tita takes a closer look at him. Something about the quick change in emotion puts her on edge. There’s more to him we haven’t seen yet, she thinks. Greg turns around looking at another bird and maneuvers the conversation away from the cameras.

  Tita glances at Luca and he catches her eye. His eyebrows are scrunched due to the worried expression on his face. Glad i
t’s not just me with a bad feeling.

  Something about the old man’s eyes bothered her; his were a bright blue like hers but they were bright with intelligence not insanity. She had seen her share of insane people, and they had a wild look in their eyes; not so with this man. His were all sane; there was planning going on behind them, scheming.

  “---don’t even fly south!” says Greg, laughing.

  “Sir, sorry to interrupt, but we’re looking for someone, a Greg Blackson?” asks Luca.

  A flicker of recognition crosses the old man’s eyes, but is gone as quickly as it appeared making her wonder if she had just imagined it.

  “Greg Blackson? Oh no, my name is Jack McColor. But that name does sound familiar; in fact, I think that was the man who sold me this house. He never did want to meet in person, which, frankly, I found a little odd, that and all the security that he had installed.”

  Greg, now McColor, makes his way over to the sitting room, motioning for them to follow. He sits down in an overly stuffed chair that seems to swallow him. If this wasn’t her grandfather, then who was this man? And why does he seem to be hiding something?

  “Well then, do you know where he moved? It’s urgent that we get in touch with him,” says Tita.

  “Urgent? What is so urgent, my dear?” he asks politely. He grabs a black loon that sits on a table next to him and starts to stroke it as if it’s his cat.

  “Well um, he’s---” she was about to explain her relationship to Blackson, but Luca cuts her off by putting a hand on her shoulder.

  We need to get some information about an organization known as Blackheart,” says Luca. Tita glances at the man, and she can see why Luca had said this. The man’s reaction was enough to get the desired effect. He clenches his jaw and his hands form a fist.

  “Blackheart, never heard of it,” he says. His eyes change again. There’s something I’m not putting together; this man may not be Blackson, but he certainly isn’t just a random person who doesn’t know anything. Tita’s mind races with all of the things she had found odd about him. Maybe he is Blackheart?