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From: owner-arfic-l-digest@lists.xmission.com (arfic-l-digest)
To: arfic-l-digest@lists.xmission.com
Subject: arfic-l-digest V1 #60
Reply-To: arfic-l-digest
Sender: owner-arfic-l-digest@lists.xmission.com
Errors-To: owner-arfic-l-digest@lists.xmission.com
Precedence: bulk
arfic-l-digest Saturday, November 10 2001 Volume 01 : Number 060
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 09 Nov 2001 09:16:31 -0500
From: "Michele Bumbarger" <mbumbarger@hotmail.com>
Subject: (arfic-l) Mistaken Identity (Part 5/12)
Mistaken Identity
by Michele R Mason
Notes & Disclaimer in Part 0
A thank you to everyone who's commented on this. I feel a lot better posting
when I know that someone is reading and appreciating my hardwork.
For those of you are waiting for more "Entangled," the wait won't be very
long, I promise you. But I am going to finish posting this story before
going back to "Entangled." Please be patient with me :-)
Thanks!
***
Part 5
"I just don't get it, Adam." Ami and Adam stood on the sidewalk outside of
police headquarters. "That license number. It was right. You know that it
was."
Adam remained silent, holding onto the medallion he wore around his neck.
Ami knew that he wasn't ignoring her; the glassy-eyed stare that came over
him, and slight furrow in his brow told her that he was thinking; he was
attempting to make connections that they might have missed.
Finally, his dark eyes focused on her. "It doesn't make any sense to me
either. Unless someone has gone through a lot of trouble to make certain
they had an unregistered license." Adam released the medallion, but his
frown remained. "That kind of trouble means we're dealing with someone very
wealthy, very powerful, or both.
"It also implies--" Adam stopped and shook his head. "No. Can't be."
Ami waited. "Implies what? Adam?"
"It's not important."
"Maybe it is."
Adam took her by the hand, pulling her gently along beside him as he headed
away from police headquarters. "I was just thinking that anyone that put
that much effort into a kidnapping would have to have been planning it for
quite sometime."
"But Shelby and her mother just arrived here today."
"I know, that's what bothers me. To plan this, someone would have had to
know that the Logans were going to be arriving in London today," Adam slowed
his pace, his brow wrinkling again. "But that doesn't make any sense.
They're not wealthy or influential--"
Ami pulled up short, "How do you know? Maybe that's what the Inspector
didn't tell me."
Again, she felt the subtle shifts in Adam's mental shields. "Because, if
they were, Inspector Baines would be working a lot harder to find Shelby.
And police headquarters would be a media circus. I think that there's
something we're missing here."
"If you can figure out what it is, then I would love to hear it." Ami
regretted her icy tone the moment the words left her mouth. Her heavy sigh
was punctuated by a gentle touch on Adam's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Adam. I
guess that it's just been a long day. I'm starting to get snappish."
"S'all right," Adam rubbed her shoulder affectionately. "I kind of forgot
that you spent most of your day at the mercy of the Inspector. What do you
say we get something to eat and compare notes?"
Adam's words gripped her stomach like a vice. She had forgotten all about
her mother's plans to take her Aunt Liz out for a birthday celebration at a
very elite French restaurant. When she had left police headquarters to go to
the Ship, she had promised to be home with plenty of time to shower, dress,
and socialize.
Ami could picture her mother pacing the length of the living room and
muttering about Ami's irresponsibility and unreliability. It was not a
pretty picture.
Ami groaned, "Oh, no."
"Ami?" Adam didn't attempt to hide the concern and confusion in his voice;
or that she felt coming through his hands on her shoulders.
" We're supposed to be taking my Aunt Liz out tonight. I completely forgot
about it."
Adam gave her a smile. "Then you better go. I know your Mum. Tell you what,
I'll go back to the ship--"
Adam's voice faded to a dull cadence at the back of her mind, mingling with
the background noises of the London streets. She gazed over his shoulder,
her eyes focused on a black sedan parked across the street from them. The
man climbing into the black sedan was the mirror of the sketch she knew Adam
still had in his pocket. And the license plate--
Ami squinted to read it from the distance--
D-K-7-9-3-4.
"Adam!" Ami's voice was sharper than she intended as she returned her
attention to him. "The car. That's the car!"
Adam followed her gaze until it landed on the car pulling slowly away from
the curb. Then he turned and raised his hand to hail a taxi. "I'll follow
them."
"I'm coming with you," Ami insisted as a taxi slowed in front of them.
"What about your aunt?"
"It'll have to wait. This is much more important."
The two piled into the taxi, and after giving the driver directions to
follow the sedan, Adam smiled at Ami. "Why do I feel like I just stepped
into a detective movie?"
"You're not the only one."
The sedan followed a leisurely pace through London. Obviously, the driver
had little if any concern about being followed. However, when it pulled into
a parking garage and the taxi cruised to a halt across the street, Ami and
Adam released a collective gasp.
The black sedan with unregistered plates had just parked at the WorldEx
Securities building.
End of Part 5
**********************************************
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**********************************************
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------------------------------
Date: Fri, 09 Nov 2001 11:33:33 -0600
From: Wendy Perkins <ladyslvr@xmission.com>
Subject: (arfic-l) Grimm's Law - Part 07/10
- --=====================_4242123==_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
- --=====================_4242123==_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Grimm's Law
A Tomorrow's Future Story
by Wendy Perkins
ladyslvr@xmission.com
Part 07 of 10
Chapter 7
But mother . . ." a new, but known, voice whined. Lisa didn't have to face
it to know what words were going to come next. In her mind's eye she
could see the hideous pink formal dress; could feel her mother's hands
picking at her, straightening imaginary wrinkles, removing imaginary dust
particles.
"The only actors in them are dogs," she heard herself say. That was the
night of the talent show, the one she hadn't wanted to go to because she
knew she'd be the only one there over the age of eight. But her mother had
insisted and, as usual, got what she wanted since she had cultivated her
selective hearing to an art form. It had been a talent show, all right, but not
for the talent she had wanted to show. That was the night Lisa had
teleported for the first time, and started the chain of events from which she
had only thought herself freed.
What had sounded like reasonable arguments at the time now sounded like
the complaints of a spoiled child. Embarrassing complaints that she was
glad no one but Adam was witness to.
Unless . . .
And there was Sara again. The same face, same long hair. This new
sequence started off to the side, almost out of sight. The sense of
movement got Lisa's attention first. She glanced at it, pulled her head back
in surprise, then whispered, "Adam, look."
They saw the teenager walking through endless space; there were no walls,
decorations or carpet, so no indication of where she was or what she was
doing. She stopped and looked around, as if planning her next move.
Pulling a small vial out of her jeans, she unscrewed the top and waved it
beneath her nose. With a satisfied nod, she leaned across something
invisible and started to pour out the liquid, one careful drop at a time.
Beneath her bracing arm, a bed became visible. With it, the older Asian
woman who was napping on it, her mouth open. The woman wore a
tailored black business suit minus the blazer, and was prone on top of the
untucked bed sheets.
The drops fell into the woman's mouth. She snorted, her face screwing up
in displeasure, but didn't awaken. Two more drops, and she reacted again,
this time in pain. She sat up suddenly, awake, hands clawing at her chest.
Turning a panicked gaze to the girl, she mouthed something undiscernible.
In response, the girl pocketed the now empty vial and vanished.
She didn't fade out of view; she teleported, complete with the flash of light
and the pop of imploding air.
Then the whole scene erased, as if it never happened.
Lisa opened her mouth to comment, and couldn't control the rush of words
that followed. "That was Sara. Did you see it, Adam? She's one of us for
sure. I know a teleport when I see one, though I have no idea how to
explain the rest of what we saw. That was her memory. Adam, we know
she's here. I think they're all here: Alejandro, and, what was that guys'
name? Eric," she said, recalling the stitching on his jacket.
"They are," he said, simply. "They're not supposed to be, but they are."
"I saw that guy walk through the door, and now we're watching one of his
memories," she continued, oblivious to his comment. "We came through,
and--" she made a vague gesture with her hands that meant see for
yourself', "and Sara's here, and . . . she said there had been others. How
many others?
"What kind of others?" she stopped, eyes widening as she started figuring
out the answers to her own questions. "Oh God. She *told* me the door
wasn't an exit."
Before Adam could speak again, she was striding back across the
threshold, back into the world of grey inhabited by one lonely soul.
"You have to let them go," she yelled, willing the girl to hear, wherever
she was. "You brought them here, and you're keeping them here. But they
don't belong here, Sara."
"No one's ever answered before, Lisa," came the timid response. "I told
them not to go through. I told them, and they didn't answer."
"That's no excuse," Lisa said. "No excuse. Can't you see that you're the one
keeping them here?" Then, recalling another part of their first
conversation, Lisa asked, "What are you waiting for?"
The answer was slow in coming. At some point she became aware of
Adam standing next to her, and then of his presence in her mind, lending
strength and patience. The ship was there too, just a dull hum in the back
of her consciousness. Then both feelings started to recede, and she could
feel the mind merge coming to an end.
[Wait,] she protested, struggling against waking up. Lisa reached to grab
the teen's wrist, a temporary anchor she hoped until she at least got that
question answered.
Instead Sara froze into place, a stricken look on her face. Her skin had
drained of color. "There will be no touching," Sara informed her in a flat,
clipped voice. "Not at all."
Sara struggled to release herself from Lisa's grip; Lisa held on tight. This
wasn't the real world, and physical contact here abided by no rules except
those believed by the minds of the participants. In that, Lisa had the
advantage because her mind was set. [Sara,] she warned, tightening her
hold.
[We have to go,] Adam said, sounding distantly panicked.
The girl struggled, and Lisa could feel the reality of the ship begin to
dominate over the perception of the mind merge. At the last moment, Sara
stopped fighting the contact and, with a baleful expression, rammed Lisa's
mind with her own, hitting her with every thought at her disposal in one,
unfocussed attack.
****
Lisa woke up this time passing through all the stages of sleep painfully and
with great reluctance. A headache pounded in her temples that she knew
would get worse when she opened her eyes. She'd never had a hangover,
but she was pretty sure if couldn't be anywhere near as bad as this.
Lisa curled her arm around the pillow, burying her head in the security it
promised . . . if she could return to sleep. Instinctively, she turned towards
the wall, towards the darkest part of the room. It wasn't night time; the
pink light she saw behind her eyelids gave mute evidence to the time of
day. It hurt her head more just to think about the increased brightness if
she succumbed and opened her eyes.
But sleep would not come. It wasn't dark enough, the noises were all
wrong, and now her throat burned with an abrupt announcement of
dehydration.
She gave in, turned away from the wall and let her eyes flutter open. The
light wasn't quite as bright as she had anticipated, but it still burned.Then it
began to resolve: first into colors, then shapes, then textures.
The color and shapes and textures became Adam. He was leaning over her,
concern marring his gentle face. Out of nowhere a hand pressed against
her forehead. It felt cool and dry, and then her head didn't hurt quite so
much.
"How do you feel?" he asked.
The response stuck in her throat. She tried to muster enough saliva to
swallow, relieve the soreness long enough to answer, but to no avail. With
a shake of her head, she collapsed back against the pillow.
Somehow Adam seemed to understand anyway. He disappeared from her
view, then returned a minute later with a coffee mug. Together they got
her sitting up enough to drink the cold water, which almost hurt her throat
more than the light had hurt her eyes. This pain was welcomed, though, it
was temporary in itself and it banished another. She accepted the mug
from Adam and pressed this new coolness to her forehead.
"I know I'm going to regret this," Lisa said, "but . . . what happened back
there?" She was able to sit up now as straight as the limited space under
the bunk bed allowed, and she was hot. Too hot. She pushed the blankets
down the end of the bed; blankets, she saw, which had been pulled up
around her as if she had been tucked in.
"You passed out. I couldn't wake you," he answered simply.
That explained the tucking in. "So you brought me here," she said. To her
dorm room. Thank goodness Tanya hadn't been there.
"Yes. The Ship thought you'd be safer there." He took a seat on the floor,
crossed his legs, then leaned forward with his elbows planted on his knees.
"I thought you wouldn't want to hang around there if you didn't have to."
"Thank you," she said.
He hesitated, then continued, "Megabyte and Jade were on their way to the
ship."
"I--"
"I brought you here before they arrived."
She blinked, considering what he just told her. He did understand. Without
being told, without the topic even coming up, Adam understood that she
wasn't ready yet to deal with the other Tomorrow People. He was going to
let her readjust on her own terms. Or, at least, the terms Sara allowed
them. "Thank you," she said again. "I mean it."
"You're welcome."
She took a long sip of the water, then turned so she was sitting on the side
of the bed instead of laying in it. "So, did we learn anything? Was it worth
it?"
"I think the Ship was trying to give us some answers," Adam replied.
"Answers? It didn't show us anything that made any sense." Lisa said, her
memories of the mind-merge beginning to surface. "Wasn't this supposed
to tell us what to do next?"
"It doesn't work like that," Adam said. "The Ship allows us to re-access
information we all ready have. It'll show us what we need to know, but
only if we already know it." He stood up and started to pace, the nervous
energy that had long been his hallmark needing outlet. "This time it
connected us with Sara, so her thoughts were in the mix too. It must have
had a reason for showing us the things it did."
"It wanted to confuse us?" Lisa asked, with mock hopefulness.
"The Ship isn't malicious, Lisa. It's on our side; it wants to help us as much
as it can."
"I mean, what did we learn?" she continued as if Adam hadn't spoken,
"Sara's doing something to some people for some reason that's causing big
problems." She scowled. "That was so vague it was barely a sentence.
Why didn't the Ship just tell us what to do? There was a lot of stuff
happening in my head, but it didn't show us the one thing we went there to
find out: how to find her."
"Maybe it did," Adam said, growing thoughtful.
"What?" Lisa demanded. "What did you see?"
"I think we should look in the obituaries." He started pacing again.
"You think she's dead! Then how did the Ship connect us with her? Don't
tell me that ghosts can mind merge."
"No."
Lisa sighed "Good. That was just too creepy. I don't even want to think
about ghosts."
"I think she killed someone."
"That's not any better! Where'd you get that from?" Lisa stood up, almost
hitting her head on the top bunk in the process. "Please stop pacing; you're
making me nervous. We can't kill, Adam. Remember? Or did something
change while I was out of the loop?"
Adam shook his head. "No, and yes."
"Oh, that clears things right up."
He sat on the edge of Tanya's desk. "Did you hear what happened over the
summer?"
"Uh-uh. But I'll take a guess and say it wasn't any fun."
The corner of Adam's mouth quirked up in an involuntary smile. "No, it
wasn't any fun," he said. He pushed a stack of books out of the way, got
more comfortable on the desk, and told her the whole story. There had
been yet another in a seemingly endless line of secret government projects
intended to use telepaths and teleporters as spies and assassins. In the end,
they had caught the people responsible, and learned of at least a dozen
teenagers who should have become Tomorrow People. Their destiny had
been stolen when they'd been forced to commit the one crime of which
Tomorrow People can't even conceive.
"That's awful!" Lisa responded, fighting off a wave of revulsion. "You
think she was part of that?"
"I think it's a place to start. Where's the library?" Adam held up his hands,
palms facing her.
He wants to teleport there? Oh, won't that be a riot . . . in more ways than
one. "About two blocks from here," she answered, deliberately not
matching his gesture. "but," she looked at his feet on which he had slipped
a pair of laceless shoes appropriate for the beach and little else, "You're
going to need socks."
"Socks?"
"And a jacket. Remember, December in this part of the world means
winter. It's cold outside. And we can't just teleport in." Off his confused
look, she explained, "Finals are next week; the place is going to be
packed."
The sentence still hung in the air when the door to the room crashed open.
"This is so unfair!" Tanya burst into the room, a crumpled sheaf of papers
clutched in her right hand. "Can you believe how unfair this is? I worked
on this forever, and that dumb professor practically flunked me. I can't
believe he *did* this to me?" She held aloft the sheaf, revealing it to be a
research paper. Lines of tight, red writing marred the lower half of the
cover page.
Lisa blinked once, trying to adjust to the shift in conversation. "What did
who do to you?" she asked, before it occurred to her that it might have
been better to keep her mouth shut. She grimaced as that thought caught
up with her, then held her breath while she awaited the forthcoming
barrage of words.
Beside her, Adam seemed calm, almost expectant of the interruption. But,
the flicker of panic Lisa felt in her mind gave him away.
"That dumb professor. You know. I worked on this paper for, like, a whole
day and he had to go and give me a B+. Can you believe it? He said it's too
long, and," she squinted at the writing, "'the argument isn't carefully
defended'. Yeah, whatever that means. Like you can deal with that topic in
ten pages and even begin to stay what needs to be said. If he knew his
material better, he'd know that this is an A paper."
"I know I'm going to regret this," Lisa said, "but which 'dumb professor'?"
"You know, Prof. G." Tanya stormed over to her desk, threw the paper on
it, then picked it back up and tucked it into the lower drawer. "He's going
to ruin my whole grade point average. And I'm never going to forgive you,
either," she said, rounding on Adam.
He opened his mouth to respond, but she didn't give him the chance.
"We were supposed to have a coffee date? Or has Lisa been saying bad
things about me again? Is that why you didn't show up? You told me you
loved coffee, and I love coffee, so it just shows that we're destined for each
other. We both love French Silk Mochas. How much more perfect is that?
I waited for you for, like, hours at that coffee shop and you didn't even
have the decency to show up. I have never been stood up before, and I'm
not going to start tolerating it now." She glared at him. "Well, aren't you
going to apologize?"
"Pardon?" Adam said, sounding more like he wanted to be anywhere else
really fast.
"And you," Tanya continued, aiming her glare at Lisa, "How could you not
tell me that the shop was closed? The sign on the window says that Health
Officials closed it last semester. You know, you could have saved me tons
of embarrassment if you'd mentioned *something*. I would have told you.
But, no, you let me stand outside that shop, making a complete fool of
myself. I hope no one saw me."
She stormed back across the room to her closet, where she began rooting
through the clothes that threatened to burst out of it. "Now I'm going to
have to change so no one recognizes me. Thanks a lot. I was hoping not to
have to do laundry this weekend." She yanked something out of the closet
that looked like a large, red t-shirt. Turning around, she held the hanger up
under her chin, revealing the article to be a short sleeved dress that barely
reached mid-thigh. "What do you think?"
"Umm, it's December," Lisa said, feeling oddly repetitive. "It's cold out.
You're going to freeze if you wear that."
"Who's Professor G?" Adam asked.
"Greenberg," Lisa replied. "We have an English class with him. Why?"
"I don't know. It just feels important. I feel like there's something--"
"Greenberg? I don't think so," Tanya interrupted. "Greenberg is such a
loser. I dropped his class like on the second day. I'm taking it with that
other guy now. You know, the one with the beard."
"Beard?"
"I think he has a beard. Do you remember if he had a beard? No, you
wouldn't, cuz you can't seem to remember *anything*. You need to pay
attention better." She let the dress drop to the floor, turned around and
began rooting through the closet again. Seconds later, she emerged with a
black pantsuit. "He's the one with the kid. The papers went on and on
about it over the summer. Like no one else ever had a kid run away before.
Please. He's so mean he's probably got her locked in the attic."
Adam had a strange, thoughtful look on his face. "Is his name Grimm?" he
asked while Tanya took a breath.
[What are you doing?] Lisa asked, his question catching her off guard.
[Playing a hunch,] Adam responded, then: [Welcome back.]
Tanya rolled her eyes. "Duh. I told you that. God." Without a comment,
she added the pantsuit to the growing pile on the floor and returned to her
closet.
Lisa turned to Adam slowly. "She is at this school. She's just not a student
here. Come on." She pulled him into the hallway, making sure the door
shut behind them. "Look, go home, get some socks on," she whispered,
knowing that Tanya could listen through the door. "A jacket, too, if you
have one. Then meet me . . ." She threw her hands up. "I don't know. Meet
me at the English building."
"You know where this Professor is?"
"No. But if he teaches here, he's got to have an office. We find the office,
we find him. The problem is catching him during office hours. Professors
are notorious for scheduling their office hours on something other than
Earth time."
Adam nodded, and looked up and down the hallway. The mural was
finished, and for once since its inception, the hallway was empty. "The
English building," he said.
"Yes. Find me."
He nodded again, then vanished.
****
End Chapter 7
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001 10:18:12 -0500
From: "Michele Bumbarger" <mbumbarger@hotmail.com>
Subject: (arfic-l) Mistaken Identity (Part 6/12)
Mistaken Identity
By Michele R Mason
Notes & Disclaimer in Part 0
***
Part 6
"Are you wondering what I'm wondering?" Adam leaned against the wall. His
eyes were focused on the building across the street -- the WorldEx building.
"Why the kidnappers would be going to WorldEx?" Ami asked.
"Precisely." Adam furrowed his brow again. "They could work there, but that
still doesn't explain why they would kidnap a five year old little girl."
"Nothing about this kidnapping is making any sense at all, Adam." Ami
muttered. "If I didn't know better, I would almost think that it was
supposed to be witnessed."
Adam swung his head around to look at her. "What do you mean? You think
someone knew you were going to be at the airport and wanted you to see it?"
Ami shook her head. "No, not me necessarily. Just someone. Someone who could
report it to the police."
"Then that goes back to our theory of the whole thing being staged." Adam
suddenly brightened, giving her a gentle nudge in the back. "Come on. I want
to get a closer look at that car and our kidnappers."
By the time they reached the inside of the garage, the kidnappers, if that's
who they truly were, were long gone. However, the car remained.
[Adam, we don't have any way of knowing where they went,] Ami commented.
Adam lifted the door handle slowly, clearly surprised when the latch clicked
without an alarm sounding. [We don't have to. Help me out here.]
[Doing what?]
[Clues. Any sort of clues that could tell us who these people are and why
they wanted Shelby.] Adam was already riffling through the glove box, and
under the front seats.
Ami followed suit, climbing into the backseat. She placed her hand on
something hard and sharp, and drew it back with a yelp. The yelp of pain
quickly turned to a howl of excitement-- she had placed her hand on a small
plastic hair clip.
"A hair clip?" Adam whispered, peeking through the crack between the seats.
"A little girl's hair clip," Ami corrected him. "And I remember Shelby was
wearing this one."
Adam smiled his familiar lopsided grin. "Then we're onto something. Now we
just have to find a way to follow them when-- I know."
Ami followed his thoughts and shook her head. "No way, Adam. It's too
dangerous."
Adam climbed out of the car, Ami quick on his heels. He was already lifting
the boot by the time she had closed all three car doors and returned the
hair clip to its place.
"Adam, this is nuts."
"This is the only way to find out where they're keeping Shelby." Adam
informed her. "Look, I'll be fine. If anything happens, I'll just teleport
away."
"What if they have guns?"
"I'll hope I don't get shot."
"Save the jokes for Megabyte."
"Ami, look on the bright side. I might just be able to rescue Shelby, too."
Ami was unconvinced, but realized that she was not about to win this
argument with Adam. He had already made up his mind. "And what am I supposed
to do while you're playing stowaway?"
"Go visit General Damon in Vermont. See if he can identify the man in this
picture." Adam pressed the sketch into her hand. "And tell him about the
license. I'll be in touch."
Ami quickly made contact with Megabyte to make arrangements to speak with
his father. She had already teleported when she remembered something Adam
had said: "That still doesn't explain why they kidnapped a five-year-old
girl."
No one had ever mentioned Shelby's age to her-- how could Adam know it?
End of Part 6
**********************************************
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http://www.alternate-realities.net
**********************************************
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001 10:20:49 -0500
From: "Michele Bumbarger" <mbumbarger@hotmail.com>
Subject: (arfic-l) Mistaken Identity (Part 7/12)
Mistaken Identity
By Michele R Mason
Notes & Disclaimer in Part 0
***
Part 7
Vermont was cold and too late Ami realized that she had forgotten her
gloves. She had only been standing in the snow for thirty seconds, but that
was thirty seconds too long. She was cold, and the snow was flaking on her
nose and eyelashes. Shoving her hand in her coat pockets, she marched
forward towards Megabyte and the General.
"What's this all about?" Megabyte demanded. "Why do you need to see us?"
Ami decided not to mention that she and Adam had requested to see the
General; Megabyte just happened to be there. "Please, Megabyte, can we go
somewhere warm and then I'll explain everything?" Her teeth were almost
chattering.
General Damon eyed her with concern. "Ami, don't you have a heavier coat?
And a pair of gloves?"
"I'm not used to this sort of cold," Ami explained, giving the man a
reassuring smile. "And I forgot my gloves."
"That was bright," Megabyte remarked sarcastically. Then much to her
surprise, he pulled off his own gloves and handed them to her with a shrug.
"I grew up around here. I'm used to it."
General Damon insisted on giving her his coat despite her very loud and
numerous protests, and the three of them trudged back to the country inn
that was only five minutes away. Unfortunately, in the cold, five minutes
seemed like ten to Ami. She made a mental note to ask Megabyte why she had
to teleport in to meet him in a field beyond the inn.
Once inside, the General forcibly deposited Ami in front of the fireplace,
only allowing her to begin speaking when her teeth had stopped chattering.
"Megabyte said that you and Adam think this could be important," General
Damon opened the conversation as he handed the young woman a cup of hot
chocolate. "Something about a kidnapping involving World Ex?"
Ami sipped the hot chocolate. "It could involve WorldEx, General. I better
start at the beginning."
For what felt like the hundredth time that day, Ami launched into her story.
Only this time, she was able to add on the license number information and
the pursuit to WorldEx. When she was done, the General stared at her
thoughtfully, while Megabyte complained.
"I can't believe it. I'm here watching ice form and you and Adam are off
chasing kidnappers," Megabyte growled. He glanced at his father, "Hey,
Dad--"
"No, Marmaduke. You are not getting involved in this." General Damon didn't
even look at his son. "I don't think that Adam and Ami should be involved
either, but I'm pretty sure that I won't be able to talk them out of it.
"Where is Adam, by the way?"
"He's in the kidnappers car." Ami sipped the chocolate again. "He's stowing
away to see where they go."
"But he's all right? You're able to contact him?"
Ami nodded.
"And you're positive that the license number was--" General Damon paused,
clearly fumbling through his memory.
"D-K-7-9-3-4," Ami quickly supplied. "I can probably say it in my sleep now.
I can probably see it in my sleep now."
"It was a mind merge, Dad," Megabyte informed his father. "More reliable
than a photographic memory."
"I guess I'll just have to take your word on that, son," General Damon
stood. "I'm going to make some phone calls back to the London office and
find out what I can learn about this unregistered car. I'm also going to see
if anyone who works for WorldEx matches your description of the kidnapper.
"Can I trust you two not disappear into thin air while I'm gone?"
"Until we hear from Adam, we don't have anywhere to go," Megabyte remarked
dryly.
"Well, then, if you hear from Adam while I'm out, will you kindly stay put?"
Ami could tell the General's words were directed more at his son than they
were at her, but still she smiled and nodded. "We'll do our best," she
promised.
Megabyte watched his father's retreat for a moment before coming to sit on
the sofa beside Ami. He grabbed several sweets from the decorative dish in
the center of the table, ate them in silence, and finished his hot chocolate
before turning those bright, inquisitive eyes on her. "So, what's going on
with you and Adam, anyway?"
Ami nearly dropped the mug of hot chocolate. She pretended to not understand
her friend's question. "I told you already. We're trying to find out who
kidnapped-- "
His blue eyes met hers. [I'm not talking about the kidnapping.]
[Then what are you talking about?] Ami couldn't help but feel a bit
defensive. She had anticipated this question eventually, but she had rather
expected that it would come from Jade. She thought Megabyte would have
chosen to approach Adam. Then again, this was Megabyte. He tended to do the
unexpected at times.
The problem was that she didn't really have an answer to his question. A
week ago, she and Adam had been just friends and fellow Tomorrow People, and
she had been trying to cope with a battery of confusing and distracting
feelings toward the Australian. But that had been before that morning at the
beach, before things had subtly changed between them. Now-- well, now,
things were different, but on some level, they had remained the same.
There were no words to tell Megabyte what she didn't know herself.
Ami stared down at her lap. "I don't know," she whispered.
"You don't know?" Megabyte repeated the words.
"It's complicated, Megabyte."
"Do you like him or not?"
Ami debated whether or not she could properly misinterpret Megabyte's
question in a believable manner. Probably not.
"Yes," she breathed. "Yes, all right. Are you happy now? Now, can we please
talk about something else?"
"Jeez, you don't have to get all bent out of shape," Megabyte frowned at
her, shaking his head and giving his shoulders a shrug. "I only asked
because-- well, it seems kind of like he likes you too and well, I don't
know, but maybe you should tell him."
Ami blinked in surprise. That was not a comment that she expected coming
from Megabyte. She still remembered how jealous he was of Adam's time with
Lucy; he hadn't liked sharing his friend with the young journalism student.
He seemed to cling to stability, to maintaining the status quo, and
certainly, a change in her relationship with Adam would affect that.
"I'm not that shallow," Megabyte argued, clearly noticing her stray and
unshielded thoughts. "And anyone's better for Adam than Lucy Allen."
Ami set the mug of hot chocolate on the table. "It wouldn't bother you,
then? I mean if Adam and I--" she couldn't bring herself to finish the
sentence. A few kisses did not amount to a fairy tale romance; she wouldn't
allow her thoughts to stray that far.
"As long as Jade doesn't get any ideas about me, we'll all get along fine,"
Megabyte promised. "But the minute she even looks at me with that puppy dog
stare-- "
"Megabyte, she always looks at you with that puppy dog stare."
The words were enough to bring a blush to Megabyte's cheeks and a scowl to
his face. He glared at her. "I don't know why you and Adam and my Dad think
it's so funny."
[Ami, Megabyte, you're not going to believe this.] Adam's familiar accent
sounded in their heads. [Can I come there?]
Megabyte gave the hallway a quick glance. [It's all clear for the moment,
pal.]
[Good.]
The familiar tingle of static and energy filled the air as a loud popping
sound filled the room accompanied by a bright flash of light. Where there
had once been only empty air, Adam stood.
"What's up, Adam?" Megabyte prompted.
"I found Shelby," Adam explained. "The kidnappers are keeping her in an old
deserted warehouse down in the districts."
Ami felt her heart soar. "You rescued her, then?"
"No, actually I left her there--"
"You left her there?" Ami and Megabyte's voices echoed in stereo.
Adam held up a hand to ward off their questions. "Look, she's safe for now.
And I can explain everything, but first I need to talk to General Damon."
End of Part 7
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001 10:22:08 -0500
From: "Michele Bumbarger" <mbumbarger@hotmail.com>
Subject: (arfic-l) Mistaken Identity (Part 8/12)
Mistaken Identity
By Michele R Mason
Notes & Disclaimer in Part 0
***
Part 8
"Now, what's this all about, Adam?" The General had ushered the three
Tomorrow People into a small den and closed the door.
Adam sat calmly across from the desk. "Why don't you tell us what you
learned first, General. Then I think that my story will make more sense."
The General nodded. "I suppose the sooner we get this over with, the sooner
we can all get back to our vacations?" He grabbed the legal pad and began to
look over the notes he had scribbled there. "I faxed the sketch to the
London office, and the man was identified as Rojal Kinsmall. Rojal is a
brilliant chemist and biologist, but sometime during the course of his
employment, it was discovered that he had began working with an extremist
terrorist group in the Middle East. He was subsequently discharged from
WorldEx, and deported.
"Rojal worked very closely with a man named Peter Roth. Roth is a genius
when it comes to biochemisty, and he has been working for sometime on a
biochemical product that could revolutionize medicine."
"How's that?" Megabyte interrupted.
"This particular product could replace anesthesia in surgery. It could also
replace things like tear gas. A very small amount would place someone into a
deep sleep for hours. Dispersed into an open atmosphere, it could relax an
entire town." General Damon nodded, frowning. "Unfortunately, in the wrong
hands it could also be used as a biochemical weapon. Concentrated and mixed
with other compounds, it could produce a toxin much more corrosive and
deadly than Mustard Gas.
"When Rojal was dismissed, Roth was asked to put his work with Agent Sleep
Aid, as its code named, aside for a few years. Roth refused, and in recent
months has perfected the product."
Adam was holding his medallion again, his eyes closed. He voice was soft and
calm when he spoke. "So, Rojal is probably attempting to get the formula
from Roth to supply terrorists."
"And he is attempting to make it look as though WorldEx is careless. The car
with unregistered plates is actually an unmarked car used by WorldEx to
transport important dignitaries, politicians, ambassadors, and the like."
General Damon leaned back in his chair, a wry smile on his lips.
"Apparently, Rojal and his companions still have greater access to WorldEx
than we ever thought-- and during the time that the vehicle was there, some
high level security files were breached.
"Luckily, that resulted in a full system dump, so they found nothing
useful."
"Okay, this is all fine and great," Megabyte interrupted. "But what does
this have to do with some little kid getting grabbed in the airport?"
Adam opened his eyes, turning his attention to Megabyte. "They think that
Shelby is Roth's daughter."
"Huh?"
"Peter Roth is Australian, Megabyte." The General launched into explanations
again, fishing through a pile of faxes. "He and his family have been
vacationing in Australia for the past three weeks. They were due to arrive
back in London this morning, but they missed their flight." The General slid
a fax of a photograph across the desk, directing his question at Ami. "Look
familiar?"
Ami leaned forward to get a better view of the picture. The man and woman in
it were unfamiliar to her, but the little girl in the center with blonde
hair and large dark eyes bore a remarkable resemblance to Shelby Logan. "She
looks like Shelby."
"Daria Roth. Same age. Same build. Same physical description."
"Are they related or something?" Megabyte studied the picture over Ami's
shoulder.
"They don't have to be, Megabyte," Ami informed him. "A lot of little kids
look alike at that age."
General Damon turned his attention to Adam. "Is that what you learned,
Adam?"
The young man nodded. "I overheard them talking. I caught the name Roth and
the code name Agent Sleep Aid, and I had some suspicions, but I wasn't
certain until now."
"Yeah, but Adam, why did you leave the little kid there?" Megabyte asked.
"She's well guarded, and out in the open. I wasn't certain that I could
teleport in and just grab her out." Adam leaned forward and rested his arms
on the desk. "I was also thinking, if I did get her out of there, what was
there to stop Rojal and his friends from going after Daria Roth, or even
grabbing Shelby again by accident?
"Then I thought, what if we could flush out Rojal and rescue Shelby?"
A spark of curiosity lit up the General's eyes. "Adam, I think I know what
you're thinking. Of course, you're assuming they haven't made a ransom
demand yet, and that Roth hasn't laughed in their faces."
"They haven't," Adam replied tightly. "I heard them planning it. They're
going to be contacting Roth in--" Adam checked his watch, "Two hours."
General Damon smiled. "Your plan just might work. Assuming Roth agrees of
course."
"Why wouldnÆt he? He doesn't have anything to lose."
"Whoa, time out," Megabyte looked from his friend to his father. "Somebody
want to tell me what's going on here?"
Ami nearly bounced in excitement. "It's simple Megabyte. We convince Peter
Roth to play along like Shelby's his daughter. The kidnappers arrange a
ransom meeting place, and then while we rescue Shelby, a WorldEx Security
team can arrest Rojal and his accomplices."
Megabyte grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, that's what I thought we were planning."
"Yeah, right, Megabyte," Adam remarked with a chuckle.
"I had better make some phone calls. I don't have much time to convince
Roth," Megabyte's father was already dialing the telephone. "And I'll need
one of you to get me to London."
"And somebody should keep an eye on Shelby," Adam suggested. "I'd feel
better knowing that she's all right."
[I can do that,] Jade's over excited voice rang in their heads. [Please,
Adam? Please?]
Adam exchanged glances with Ami and Megabyte. His touch on Ami's mind was
soft and tight, and she knew that she was the only one receiving him. [So
much for not calling in the reinforcements, hey?]
End of Part 8
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