Out of the Black - Lee Doty [118]
He smiled uncomfortably. "You sure you won't let me come?"
"Painful death is poor thanks, Jerr." She gave his arm a squeeze.
He nodded. "Should I go to the press if you don't make it?"
"If we die, forget us. It's the only non-suicide option."
He looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "If you make it..."
"We'll be back." She finished, punching him in the shoulder. "Alex still hasn't met you or the family."
He nodded, "Yeah. Don't be strangers. I'll want to hear everything."
"Count on it."
"Seek medical attention." The medkit counseled from the back seat.
"Seek medical attention." Jerry said, holding his hand up in solemn farewell.
"Seek medical attention!" Rae enthused, her fist in the air. Still smiling, she backed out of the garage, conscious of just how fast the warm lights of the garage were lost in the enfolding darkness.
***
Dek sat at one of his favorite sushi bars five blocks from Ivo's office in Rosemont.
Today the food he ordered was only cover. He sat at the back in a booth, rather than at the bar like usual. Asuko was on duty tonight, so he enjoyed some light conversation before she had to move on to other customers.
Alone in the dim booth, he pulled his tablet from his jacket and turned it over in his fingers. Before he could get down to the business of finding Ivo and Roy's killers, he had to find his second adopted father. Of course, this was assuming that Issak was still alive.
It was also assuming he could convince Kaspari to fight. Issak was a great guy, but he was just a bit lacking in the passion department. Ivo and Issak were like brothers- they'd known each other for centuries. Still, Dek had a shadow of fear that Issak would think more about flight than fight. It wasn't that Issak's heart was cold, but it seemed to Dek that it was just old and, well... somewhat pragmatic. Issak's mind was deep and subtle, and perhaps it ruled his heart a little more than Dek would like.
Dek loved him, warts and all... and right now, he was all Dek had left.
Here goes. He spent a few hundred milliseconds reconsidering the sketchy details of his plan: Check his messages, maybe call Kaspari- see what pans out. Sketchy.
With the planning out of the way, he righted the tablet in his hands and switched it on. Immediately after he passed the security locks, he was presented with new messages. There were three: two video feeds and a text message, all from Issak. The receive date marked the first video at ten minutes after he had fled from Ivo's downtown Lab. Dek tapped the message.
Kaspari's even features filled the tablet's screen. He was bald, with a tight fringe of iron-gray hair. His face looked stern as always, like the world's most patient wolf. Of course now that Dek had known him for decades, he realized that beneath the harsh façade was an atom-organizing discipline and focus. Roy had called him the RomuBorg once casually. Issak had a good laugh about it... he definitely had a sense of humor, though it largely focused on the ironic, like now:
"I like the decorating you did in the exam room. Much more airy." His face didn't crease with a hint of humor. His eyes didn't sparkle. His dry delivery was the envy of snooty butlers the world over. "Since I didn't see a stain below the window, I'm assuming that you will return my call, no?" He broke the connection.
Issak had the most exquisite accent; subtle, precise, completely untraceable to any origin language or region that Dek could discover. Though intriguing, it was barely perceptible, even for Dek. He had asked Issak about it, but had never received an explanation more satisfying than, "I've lived in many places."
The second message had been sent about twenty minutes later. He played it. The face that filled the screen was controlled as ever, but subtly different- strained, perhaps. He was terse: "Call me. Carefully. Soon."
He opened the text message. Also terse: "No call. Come. Where we first met."
Gotcha.
Before he switched off his tablet, he linked it to his Uni and paid his bill. After an unsuccessful moment of impulse suppression,