In Search of... (Zan, CC / Mature) (Complete)

[DMartinez]

Winner Round 11




Winner - Round 10



Author: DMartinez
Email: shockerdm@icqmail.com
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Metz, Katims, UPN, The WB and a few others. Ballad for Dead Friends belongs to Dashboard Prophets. New York, New York belongs to Frank Sinatra. No infringement intended.
Rating: MATURE
Summary: As in all things Roswell, the end is never the end.
Category: Zan

In Search of...

Prologue

1999

Their sweating bodies heaved in the final moments before bliss. The blonde tipped her head back. "Tell me you love me."

He didn't even have time to respond before the point of culmination was upon him. Her gasps went unheard as he was swept away in the moment. He'd think about what she said later... maybe.

2001

They rolled on their makeshift bed and their sweating bodies heaved against each other. Their eyes caught and for a second he was afraid she'd say she loved him. Lowering his head to her shoulder, he could avoid her gaze as he was swept away in the moment. They'd deal with the fallout later... maybe.

2000

He lay wrapped in his thoughts when the heavy footsteps approached his bed. Quickly he shoved his hands into his pockets and shut his eyes as if he had been asleep this whole time. The curtains were torn aside. "Duke, you up yet?"

"S'up?" He asked, barely opening one eye to look his second over.

"We gon' grubbin' or what?"

It took him a second to remember that his sister had to eat and this was the family bonding activity of the day. "Yeah, I comin'."

"Didn't ask what you was doin', but it's good to know you dick ain't shriveled up and fall off or nothin'." The punk smirked as his king got to his feet, who was clearly not amused by the jab. "We headin' or what?"

"We goin'." Zan packed his hands into his pockets, fingers brushing important objects before he pulled them out empty once more. "And I get the job done, aight?"

"Ain't what I see." Lannie shook her head from where she sat perched on the back of the old broken couch.

"You need to git you eyes checked." Zan bit out at her and headed to the entrance. "Ava outside?"

"We's all waitin' on you, Duke." Rath shrugged. "What're we hittin' first?"

"Italian." Zan answered immediately. He could eat something heavy.

"Chinatown." Lannie told him as Ava joined the trio on their march to the streets of New York.

"Whateva. I just need to eat." Zan shrugged and thought it over. "Need some vitamin C anyway."

Rath looked to Lannie, whose eyes narrowed. "You gettin' sick or somethin'. We hittin' them stands a lot these days."

"I like oranges." Zan muttered and absently patted his pocket. He knew the signs. Lannie and Rath had just challenged his authority, which meant they were going to bring up the Summit again. Fucking summit. All the old guys could go to hell, he had better and more important things to think about. No fucking way he'd go to the Summit. They'd have to kill him first...

... and that's what they did. Twenty minutes later his body lay bleeding and broken in the street. His lungs fought for air but the truck had stopped directly on top of his chest. Fingers pulling at his pockets, he set the picture on fire, watching it turn to ash as his eyesight blurred. Then his last breath blew out of his lungs.

2002

The pictures were all over the table in straight little piles. Max fingered the edges of his favorite. He hadn't wanted anyone to take any pictures of Zan but they had given him every last photo without him asking. He laid the picture against his forehead and shut his eyes. The pictures were all he had left. He felt her enter the room before he felt her hand on his shoulder. "Max..."

"I can't help it. I mean... one week and my heart is breaking." Max pulled her onto his lap. "How, Liz? How?"

"How what, Max?"

"How could I love anyone so much after such a short time?"

"He's your son, Max. A part of you."

"I did the right thing?"

"A little late now." She pointed out and picked up a picture that she had taken of Max watching Zan sleep.

"I have to burn them. I was just trying to memorize them." Max began gathering them together.

"Don't." Liz shook her head at him. "Don't burn them. I think you should put them in a safety deposit box and let him have them when he turns 18 or something... you know... when he's ready to know what you look like."

"Maybe. It means my dad will have to contact that woman again... to pass it along." Max laid his head on her shoulder. "How did you get in here?"

"Michael let me in when he was leaving. Come on. We have some time before I have to work. Three weeks before graduation and I have the schedule memorized. We're going to make the most of every second we can get together." Liz kissed his nose. "You did the right thing, Max."

"I really hope so."

"You'll see, it will all be alright."

"He deserves a normal life."

"We all do. Which means you're coming over after school tomorrow so we can make out like a couple of teenagers."

"That's normal."

"Nothing's going on Max. It's pretty safe now. No military. Zan is safe. We're alive and we're graduating."

"We are, aren't we." He finally smiled. "Somehow I never thought I'd see the day."

TBC

[DMartinez]

Part 1 - 2016

The blonde pulled her date into the apartment and shut the door before attacking him. He was more than willing to see things her way and guided them to the couch. Buttons popped off and clothes were coming off when suddenly she pulled away. What was that? Someone in the kitchen?

"Hey Mom! That you? We're out of milk."

She sighed heavily and waited as her confused date put two and two together. Closing her blouse, she got up and straightened the rest of her clothes. "Honey, I thought you were spending the night at Henry's."

"He got grounded and Mrs. M said I had to go home." The lanky boy shoved a handful of cereal into his mouth and studied his mother carefully. "Who is he?"

"A guy from work." She sighed and returned to her guest. "Tony, I'm sorry but..."

"Whatever." Tony shook his head and headed for the door. "It was fun. I'll call you." Before she could protest, the door had shut behind him.

"Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"I got a letter from Taran... Scholastics. Do you know what that's about?"

Casting one last look at the closed door, Erika Kasey tuned her ears to her son's question. "Taran what?"

"I don't know." The dark haired boy sat his grungy tattooed body on the counter and held out the letter. "I didn't even apply and I got some scholarship interview with that private school that all the snobs go to."

Erika ran her eyes over the words. "Looks like your daddy gave us something good after all."

"What's that?" His eyes narrowed.

"He gave you a brain worth more than a little something extra." She cleared her throat. "Ronald Israel Kasey is a candidate for enrollment at the finest private school in New York City, a scholarship provided by Taran Scholastics will provide tuition and books... What do you say Rik?"

He stared at his feet. "Leave all my friends and go to a snob school?"

Erika stared at her son. "You know you're smart. You should be somewhere like... Adarma where you can be with other smart people. Lord knows your mama isn't the smartest gal on the block and she's the smartest person you know."

"Not true. Mrs. Green down the hall is a member of Mensa." Rik grinned and ran a hand through his short spiky hair. Then the smile faded. "It says I gotta go to an interview first. What if they change their minds? I didn't even apply for this thing. How did they pick me?"

"I think Mr. Jamison at school did it."

"The counselor?" Rik nodded to himself.

"Well?"

"Well?"

"Smart aleck." Erika hopped up on the counter next to him. "Brains aren't the only good things he gave you. You've got his hair, his eyes, his chin."

"I don't want to talk about him." Rik focused on the ceiling. "I think it's weird. This Taran thing for Adarma."

"Me too but... I'm proud of you and if I have to put in more hours so that you can go after you get accepted, I will."

"And if I don't?"

"You'll just have to hit the books extra hard so you can go to college."

"What if I don't want to go to college?"

"Come on. You've got to make the big bucks so we can get out of this dinky apartment and live somewhere nice and not worry all the time about bills and food."

"Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"What happened to him?"

It was Erika's turn to turn her eyes to the ceiling. The brown orbs turned cold. "I don't know."

--

"It came!" Darin rushed into the room to show his parents.

"Adarma?" His mother rose from her seat.

"Yeah." He sat on the coffee table and stared at the envelope.

Gregory Maples moved to the armchair and waited. "Well, are you going to open it son?"

"Yeah." It was barely a breath. He ripped opened the side of the envelope and pulled the paper out. "Dear Mr. Darin Christopher Maples, We at Taran Scholastic are pleased to inform you that... Taran Scholastic?"

"Keep reading sweetie." Susan Maples urges.

"Okay, um..." His brow furrowed. "Pleased to inform you that you've been chosen as a candidate for enrollment at the finest private school in New York City. After a brief interview, Taran Scholastic will be pleased to provide funds for tuition and books..."

"Wow, that's great, sweetie."

"Who's Taran Scholastic?" Darin repeated.

"Who cares? They're paying for school." Greg plucked the letter from the teen hand and looked it over. "Just a brief interview but it seems like you've got it in the bag, son."

"Yeah." Darin nodded. "I didn't apply for a scholarship."

"Maybe Mr. Wither did, the counselor."

"Maybe."

"Uh-oh..." Greg muttered to himself.

"What is it?" Susie asked.

"Nothing, nothing. I just have to dig up Darin's birth certificate is all... the original." Greg shook his head and put the letter back in the envelope. "Well, this calls for a celebration. Let's go out to dinner."

"But the roast is almost done."

"Then we can eat it tomorrow. This is news."

"Yeah. News." Darin stared at the envelope in his father's shaking hand and thought it all over. Taran Scholastic?

TBC

[DMartinez]

Here's the next part. The important thing to remember is that we're dealing with offspring. I think it stays that way for the first bunch of parts. Keep reading and you'll figure out who is who and who belongs to whom.

Part 2

Rik sat with his friends, mostly juniors, at lunch in the grungy cafeteria, poking at the mystery meal of the week. Stroganoff or corned beef. It was anybody's guess. Not that it was cool to actually eat the food but they needed a reason to be in the café in the first place. Tattooed pierced bodies were crammed around the table with him. Dyed hair in multiple colors, body parts nearly falling out of badly torn clothes. All of his friends knew he was smart but that's why they left him alone most of the time. He was cool to hang with and get answers from but no one pressured him to screw himself up with booze or smoke or needles. At home he was the good little boy his mother loved, at school, he was RIK. Tough guy with more than a few brains.

Looking around the run-down room, he wondered how bad it had looked when his mother had gone there, sitting with her own group of hoods as they planned the weekend's escape. She couldn't hide her life from him, especially since she had never really escaped it. He thought about her for a moment. His mother described him to people as the sweetest, lankiest boy anyone ever met. Robbie Guevera described him as lean and mean and hot to boot… that was probably why they had gotten detention more than once last month exploring the possibilities. He knew he wasn't actually mean but he could look it and scare the teachers with a glance.

When he found her, Robbie was hanging all over Steve, their ring leader, but Steve wasn't giving her the time of day. He was a good friend that way. Dari, on the other hand had been giving him looks all morning. There might be a trip to the boiler room in their future. Steve cleared his throat and the table quieted enough for his voice to be heard. "We ravin' tonight."

"Where?" T asked eagerly.

"Let ya'll know tonight." Steve shrugged and nodded to Rik. "What happened to the freshman?"

"Henry?" Someone else asked.

"He got busted. His mom ain't said nothin' else." Rik shrugged.

"He's too much of a mama's boy anyway." Steve moved on. "He probably could have scored for us though."

"Not a chance. He can't lie to save his life." Rik shook his head with a wry smile.

"Look at that ass." T leaned over the table panting. All male eyes, and a few female eyes, were riveted to the leather skirt clad ass of a blonde moving through the cafeteria. "Ooh, honey, come to daddy."

He was promptly smacked upside the head when Rik hung his head. Steve smacked the other guys in quick procession. "Eyes up, fellas. That's Ms. K."

Sure enough the 32-year-old mother of one turned her head to the group and headed over with the assistant principal in tow. T hissed between his teeth. "Damn Rik, what'd you do?"

"Nothin'… yet." He joked and stood when the adults found them.

"Sweetie, let's go. The scout at Adarma wants to see you in an hour. We've got just enough time to make it."

"Adarma?" The group asked in shock and horror and stared at their buddy Rik as if they'd never seen him before.

Steve was the one who broke the tension. "What's Adarma want with our buddy Rik?"

"It seems that one of you hooligans is not useless after all." Assistant principal Sawyer glared at the group of miscreants. "That one has a future brighter than the rest of you put together."

"Hold on, one minute." Erika turned on the A.P. with her hands on her hips. "All of these kids are smart. They could all go places if administrators like you weren't always harping on them and treating them like dirt. I'm glad my boy has a shot at Adarma, maybe the teachers there will be supportive of his current lifestyle as well as the one that he's got a shot at."

"You've never changed, have you Miss Kasey. All mouth and no action. What is it that you're doing now? Books for a seedy hotel?"

"A club. Alright? It's a club and it sees more money than you've ever raised for this school." Erika nodded her head to the exit. "Let's go, Rik. We've got a meeting to go to."

Hoots and hollers sounded in their wake. Nobody much liked A.P. Sawyer or his high horse that he looked down on the students from.

--

Darin straightened his tie and looked in the mirror of the boys bathroom at his private junior high. Every hair had been combed into place and his parents would be there any minute to pick him up and take him for his interview. He was fourteen and he had an interview with Adarma. His current school was okay but he needed to be with people on his own level and JFK wasn't cutting it. A year ahead and in a better school. His mom and dad had been supportive and it was going to happen. He had big dreams. He planned to be president in 2040 and that's all there was to it. None of the kids in his class really knew him or cared about him except when they were teamed up for projects, in which case everyone wanted to be his partner.

Adarma was exactly what he needed. Rigid schedules with lots of homework and no time for socialization while making the friendship-connections to last a lifetime. Running a comb through the part in his hair, he reset it and smoothed the strays ends once more. Perfect. Emerging from the bathroom, he set his path to the foyer, where he met his father and the dean for some pleasantries before they exited to the car where his mother was waiting behind the wheel. He stared straight ahead as his father ran over the types of questions that might be asked and advice to be calm and himself.

The school was beautiful. High walls, rich brick, green climbing ivy. Polished floors, shining walls. The dean and two of his colleagues met the trio in the outer office. "Mrs. Maples, Greg! I can't tell you how pleased I was to find we were getting your fine offspring into these hallowed halls."

"Jefferson." Greg held out his hand. "We're honored to be considered."

"Considered." Jefferson Peters shook his head. "I think we can forgo the interview." He looked over the young son of his old friend. "I think I can bet this upstanding young man is everything Adarma looks for in a student and more." He took another look at the boy. "What is he? Junior?"

"I'm in the eighth grade, but I should be skipping to tenth when the test results come in." Darin shook hands with the dean. "It's a pleasure to meet you sir."

"And has good manners, definitely the son of a Maples." Jefferson chuckled. "I've got one other potential student to meet with and then we'll begin the tests."

"Are there many applicants?" Susan pressed with a quick glance to her watch. She had a meeting she would miss if the proceedings took much longer.

"Not as many as we would like but Taran Scholastics has been scouting for us these past ten years or so. They haven't let us down yet. They only bring us the best and the brightest. We haven't turned down one of their applicants yet." Jefferson assured them and motioned to his secretary. "Jenny will take you to the conference room to wait with the other applicants. In about an hour we'll begin the tests."

"Hear that, Darin? Only the best and the brightest." Greg clapped his son on the back but turned to the dean for a second. "If you have a moment, I'd like to talk to you… regarding some… paperwork."

"Sure, sure. But later. Go on. Socialize. Meet the other students, the other parents. You're going to be seeing a lot of them in the years to come."

--

Rik was suddenly self-conscious of his looks the second he stepped into the dean's office at Adarma. There were two men sitting opposite the dean, chatting. All rose when the two Kaseys entered. The dean blinked at Rik and looked him over more than once and blinked again. "Ronald Israel Kasey?"

"My friends call me Rik." He held out his tattoed hand with the leather bracelet around his wrist. "Pleased to meet you."

"Ah… uh.. yes. Mrs. Kasey, please have a seat." Jefferson Peters looked sharply to the two men, who exchanged glances and looked to him with meaningful glances.

"It's Ms. Kasey, Erika, please. And thank you." The slinky blonde took a seat and waited for everyone to get their wits about them.

"Well, Miss Kasey, um. Welcome to Adarma. I am Dean Peters. My associates are here to audit these interviews." Jefferson sat back and seemed to contemplate his words carefully. "I'm surprised to find that Taran Scholastics has backed a student… not from the private school structure."

"My son is a special boy." Erika smiled at her son. "We're really excited about this opportunity."

"Believe me, we, the school, has been scraping the barrel trying to raise our establishment to its former glory." He paused and looked to his associates for a second. "We've entrusted our scouting to Taran Scholastics and they have never steered us wrong before but I can't help but think young Ronald would suffer in this environment. Children are not always kind to those who are different. They have a tendency to be cliquey and to ostracize those that aren't familiar."

Erika had felt the shift and steeled her will. This was not going to happen. Not to her son. "We came because Taran Scholastics chose my son for your school. Surely that means something."

"I'm only thinking of your son's well being."

"My son is a tattooed, pierced freak. Yes. Much like his mother, who was also raised in the public school system. I turned out more than fine and my son is brilliant. A talent for math and science that he's not been able to display before. This is his shot. To be more than we ever thought possible. You will not turn him out under false pretenses. This nonsense about the way he dresses." Erika leaned forward to look the dean in the eye.

"How will Ronald adjust to such an abrupt change in pace?"

"Like a fish to water." Rik answered for him, steel to match his mother's in his eyes. He wasn't sure that he wanted Adarma before but now that these men were trying to shut him out, he wanted it more than anything.

"Public schools are a little different than private schools. We have sterner strictures, more work, less room for error. We don't hold with delinquency."

"Neither do I." Erika got to her feet. "I didn't raise a delinquent. He's a teenager. He's a little wild sometimes but he'll rise to any standard you put him to. You said yourself that Taran Scholastics has never steered you wrong before. Why would they now?"

"There's no need to make an issue out of this."

"You perform this interview the way it's supposed to go. Administer the tests I imagine you've got in a vault somewhere." Erika sat back and crossed her legs. "Stop staring at my ass and looking down my blouse, Mr. Peters, you're not that slick. Make this meeting go right or I'll have you on the ten o'clock news for social bigotry and sexual harassment."

Jefferson started to chuckle but the look in the young man's eyes stopped him. "That's ridiculous. That's not what's going on here."

"Prove it." Erika pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. "Some close personal friends of mine. Damon Winters of KKNE, his personal phone number is 555-9845. Rita Garcia of WKSH, 555-8473. Freida Wilson of WKUS, 555-0573. I've got a few others I can call as well. They work for newspapers." She turned to the men in the room. "So, what do you say we conduct this interview in a proper manner and get on with the tests?"

Jefferson cleared his throat and withheld his doubts and deferred to his associates judgment. They nodded and he proceeded. "Well, then, Ronald. What extra-curriculars do you hold at PS-231?"

"I don't have any."

Jefferson gave Erika a look but she held her finger over the talk button her phone and he was obliged to continue. "How are your grades?"

--

Darin looked over a couple of desks and had to do a double take. The boy two seats down looked more than familiar. He was disgusting in torn jeans and ripped shirt but that face. Suddenly, the boy looked up and froze. He saw it too. Ripping his eyes away, Darin finished his test and set it aside for the monitors to pick up. When he looked over, the other boy was already done.

The two boys were escorted from the room so the other children could finish the exam. All their parents were attending a lecture on the benefits of the school in the auditorium. They sized each other up on the way to the conference room. Darin felt his anger welling up inside him. Rik couldn't contain his rage once the door had shut behind them. "Well, now I know what happened to my dad."

"I assume the blonde tramp is your mother." Darin bit out. "How'd you get an invitation?"

"Must be the genes. Pops must be a pretty smart guy for an @#%$." Rik moved to the glass wall where they could see their parents filing out of the auditorium on the way to the cafeteria. "I haven't seen him since I was a baby. Which one is he?"

Darin set his jaw and pointed, then snapped his head up when Rik started laughing. "What?"

"That's not pops." Rik shook his head. "You been lied to, son. I suggest you ask mom and dad where they got you because there's no way they had anything to do with your genetic makeup." He pulled a picture out of his pocket. "That's the guy that sired me."

Hand shaking, Darin took the picture and was bowled over by what he saw. A man, a young man… practically a boy himself holding a baby in his arms. "Who is this?"

"That is the man that made me." Rik stared at his mother through the glass. "Mom says I look just like him. And you look just like me… ain't no way those old people made you themselves."

"How do you know that this guy isn't just a… poser and my dad isn't really yours?" Darin dropped the picture on the table.

"Because my mom would have talked to him already. She's not shy. She would have let him have it the moment she laid eyes on him." Rik made for the door. "Keep the picture. I got dozens of 'em."

--

Jefferson pulled Greg Maples aside. "Greg, there's a situation."

"If it's about the paperwork, you promised you'd give me a chance to explain." Greg ran a hand through his grayed hair.

"We'll get to that." Jefferson turned the man to watch the young punk from PS-231. "That is the complication. I tried to dissuade them from pursuing the scholarship but the mother is well connected."

"My god…" Greg stared at the boy.

"We were wild back in the old days but I had no idea you cheated on Susan." Jefferson lowered his voice.

"That's because I didn't." Greg took a deep breath. "Darin's adopted, we haven't told him yet." Then he saw his young son emerge with a picture in his hand and hurt in his eyes. "It may be too late."

"I just thought I'd warn you. I'd hate to have to lose him. I tried to keep the other one out but we can't afford bad publicity."

"I understand."

"We'll know for certain once the test results come in." Jefferson warned him. "But I have a feeling that kid is not going to go away. He and his mother could make trouble for your family."

"What connections does she have?"

"The ones that count. She's just a book keeper for a night club but that night club sees a lot of business and has a lot of famous customers. Ones who influence the public. News, television, radio, newspaper."

"We've got friends in high places."

"Our friends are old and sign the checks. Her friends are ambitious and hard to predict. If her kid pans out the way the scouts promise. He'll be here for the next two years."

Greg looked to the young punk and then his son. "What are the chances something like this would happen?"

--

The cab ride home was near icy. Erika stared straight ahead. "He was a lot of things but he wasn't a cheater."

"Then why does that kid have his face?"

"Maybe you were mistaken."

"Or maybe dear old dad left us for this new chick and when he didn't stick around for her either, she gave the kid up for adoption." Rik shrugged. He hadn't really expected better of the man who had walked with no warning when his child was two years old. "Whatever. Doesn't change the fact that a total stranger and I share a face, which says to me we share dear old dad's genes."

--

"Adopted." Darin stared at the picture long and hard as his parents explained to him the truth. "So, you just went to an orphanage and picked me out of a line-up?"

"No, it was a private situation. Our lawyer knew we were looking to adopt and a unique situation arose. We snapped it up and didn't ask too many questions." Susan informed him carefully. "It happened so fast. You were in my arms in a matter of days. Just under a year old from what we could tell."

"My parents?"

"Only thing I ever heard was the father couldn't provide. A few weeks later, we got this." She pulled a letter out of a pocket in her robe. "We didn't open it. It was for you, when we felt you were ready to know." She took a deep breath. "Maybe we were waiting until we were ready and I'm still not."

Darin took the envelope and held it for a long moment. Carefully, he opened it and a key fell into his hand. The piece of paper inside was just that. A piece. On one side was the address of a bank in New York City and the number and safe word to a safety deposit box. The other side had a curious note. "My son, I thought long and hard about what I had to do and this was the best way to see you have the best possible life. These pictures are for your eyes only and I can only hope it will be enough to slake your curiosity about where you came from. I love you and hope you can respect my request that you don't look for me. I love you. Your biological father." Darin looked to his parent then back to the note. "Well, at least he was honest."

"We can leave them in the box until you're ready to look at them." Greg cleared his throat.

"I want them. I want to see. That guy at Adarma said he had dozens of pictures. I want to see." He looked at the handwriting on the note to the handwriting on the back of the picture from the guy at school. "I'm curious." 'Me and the kid.' It didn't match. Not handwriting and not language usage. "I'm very curious."

TBC

[ladylou]

Hmm, my thoughts agree with Emz's thoughts. Max and Zan's sons. Curious and curiouser. But there's an age difference isn't there? Darin is skipping classes, which puts him as younger than Rik?

ladylou

[DMartinez]

AN: So, just like that first posting of this story I have stop in and say thanks for all the wonderful feedback and speculation so far. I'm glad you're enjoying AND Erika=Ava is erroneous. '-) She's not. She's got brown eyes, Ava has blue. Here's some more to read.

Part 3

The contents of the safety deposit box were stacked in neat piles all over his desk. Darin had cleaned it out and taken it all home. He wasn't sure what was in it and so the gym bag had been a tad ridiculous. It was just a pile of pictures. A pile of pictures that brought up a lot of questions. While the picture in his left hand had some superficial similarities to the picture in his right hand, there were many, many differences. The clothes on the man/boy. The smile on his face… the child in his arms. Then there were the other people in the pictures. Just in the background, just out of focus. Extra hands in them. There were so many people. Why had he given up his son? Where was the mother? Why?

Why change the way he dressed? Why father a second child after abandoning the first? Why leave one with the mother and cast the second to the wind?

"Darin? Sweetie?" his mother’s voice whispered through the door.

"Is that my real name?" He whispered to himself. Would his parents have kept his name? Did they choose another? Did they have a choice about it?

"Honey? Dinner's ready." Still, he didn’t answer her. “I’ll leave you a plate to heat when you’re hungry, sweetie. Darin?”

"Where am I from?" He flipped through the pictures and searched for a sign of anything. All the pictures were inside a house, possibly the same one but there were no other clues that could help him.

"Darin? I just got a call from Dean Peters. We got in. You did it. You'll be attending Adarma next semester, just like I did when I hit high school age. He said that only a handful of other kids got in." That grabbed Darin's attention. He rose to listen at the door. "Out of the twenty or so kids they tested and interviewed, only five. Three girls and two boys."

"Did he get in?" Darin called through the door.

"Who?" Greg stepped back when his son opened the door.

"You know who? Did he get in?"

"I don’t know. I guess you'll find out at orientation." He reached out a hand to touch his son's shoulder but Darin flinched away. "I know you're upset but I need you to understand that your mother and I love you very much. We only thought we were doing what was best for you."

"By lying to me?" Darin accused with all the venom his young years could muster. "Who am I? I'm not heir to a legacy. I'm not the seventh Maples generation to attend Adarma. I'm just some kid who lucked out and won a name out of a hat."

"Now, listen to me. You are my son. I don't care what some piece of paper says. Whoever that person was, he was no man. Some boy in over his head and he gave up all rights to you when he gave you up for adoption."

"How did you know it was my father?" Darin pressed. "How did you know it was my father and not my mother that gave me up?" His father remained silent. "You already saw them. The letter, the pictures. You just lied all this time. Lied to me about who I was." He stood there for a long time and pondered his existence. "Maybe he was just some kid in over his head but I've got a brother out there and he left us with some pretty amazing genes if we're the only two boys who made it into Adarma this year." Greg stared at his son for a long moment as the child considered his next words. "I don’t think he was in over his head. I think he knew exactly what he was doing. I think that he was involved in something pretty heavy to have to give me up for adoption."

"Darin—" The door shut in Greg's face and he had no choice to but bow out for the moment.

--

Rik hung up the phone and turned to his mother in shock. "I got in. One of five out of twenty."

"I knew it." She jumped to her feet and hugged him tightly. "You are getting us out of here."

"Slow down. I still have to graduate." Rik turned to his friends that were mooching dinner for the night and they were all stock still. "Yeah, I'm going to Adarma."

"That's cool." Steve nodded. "More power."

“More power." Dari and T repeated.

"This is a cause to celebrate." Erika smoothed her skirt. "If all of you can keep your mouths shut, I'll sneak you into the VIP room."

"No shit?" Steve blurted.

"No shit." Erika nodded and grabbed her keys. "Let's get going with one rule." She held them all with a hand up. "No one drinks and no one buys. You got it? I could lose my job."

"Understood." Rik nodded and slapped his buddies on the back. They both grinned and slipped on their jackets. Dari lingered. This unspoken attraction between them might never get a shot at anything. In the end, it was T that wrapped his arm around the girl and guided her to the subway. The remaining three followed. Erika had her arm through her son's and through Steve's as they navigated the crowds.

"How come that pretty girl came to see you and she's leaving with that ugly sack?" She nudged her son and when he didn't answer, she turned to Steve. "How about you? If she had picked you, I would have understood but she chose T." Steve shrugged. "That girl doesn't know what she's missing but that leaves me with the two best looking boys in the place."

Rik managed a grin when Dari glanced back at him when their train stopped. Just a couple of more blocks and they'd be… arrested. The quintet stopped and looked at the police tape that blocked off the street ahead of them. "It's the club."

"Go home. I'll see what's going on." Erika pushed them back to the subway.

--

Darin squinted at the pictures and sat up. The earlier picture with that boy from school, piercings. The lip, eyebrow, ears and tattoos. The later pictures. No piercings or scars, no tattoos or odd-colored flesh in their stead. How? Maybe he was a spy or a narc. Maybe he got a little too close on assignment? Leave the girl and kid behind, maybe but why again?

Frustrated he swiped his arm over the desk and sent the pictures flying. That's when he got his first clue. The numbers on the back of the pictures. Dates and times. Pictures taken with different cameras and the same time. He began setting them in order and still, he came up with a set without numbers, taken with a disposable camera, he supposed… like the picture from the guy at school. Then he furrowed his brow. The dated pictures… were taken over the span of five days.

Was it a conspiracy? Was this guy even really his father? It would be too much of a coincidence if he weren't because of that hoodlum at school. Why the staged pictures? Why any of it? What was the point unless the situation was bigger than life?

--

Rik sat in the dark and chatted with Steve. They had been best friends since before he could remember. They played ruff and tuff at school but their mothers could still whoop them without trying. "So Dari…"

"What 'bout her?" Rik didn't even turn his head to his buddy.

"She's hot and you know she ain't seriously thinkin' 'bout T." Steve lifted his cigarette to his mouth and felt Rik's non-committal shrug. "Then what was that all 'bout? Since when do it take you ten minutes to say good night?"

"Since she did it with her tongue." Rik was snickering before the sentence was out. He was caught. But Steve was laughing too. "Yeah, T's gonna be pissed."

"Well, I'll take care of T." Steve took a long drag and turned his head to his buddy. "When do they steal you from us?"

"Next semester."

"We gon miss havin' your brains around."

"You know, at that school… I met this kid, looks 'most 'xactly like me." He sat up and turned to his suddenly silent friend. "My dad, I don't really think about him all that much, you know? But when I saw that kid, I was angry and little more when I find out the kid's adopted."

"Shit. Guess pops got commitment issues."

"Or somethin'."

"So, what's the big deal?"

"He's probably gon be going to that school with me. I'm gonna be seein' him all over. He's a few years younger. Prolly a freshman or somethin'."

"He know your pops at all?"

"Nah, don't even think he knew his pops ain't his pops, you know and then he sees my ugly mug… and I pass along one of those pictures my mom's got in a big box in the closet. Turned white as a sheet." Rik took Steve's abandoned cigarette for a short puff. "Don't know if that means he's still out there or if maybe I got more brothers and sisters out there… or if I should even care."

"The other kid, he from the hood?"

"Nope." He laughed to himself. "He's from the high-rises, I bet. Been goin' to schools like Adarma all his life." He hung his head. "I'm gonna miss being your number two."

"Who you shitting? I'm your number two." Steve took his cigarette back and finished it off. "You know, he might have been raised to go to those fancy schools. Got all the right connections but you… you did it the hard way. That way… I see you deserve it more."

"Maybe."

"Promise me you won't forget the little peeps when you go schmoozing with those fancy girls and their daddies' nice rides."

"Not a chance. We'll still be livin' here."

"Not if you go to college." Steve pulled his jacket tighter around his body. "But we'll still be here if you ever want to go slummin'."

"This ain't slummin'," Rik corrected. "This is livin'. We got a nice view of the skyline, better than any high rise. Cool air on a hot night and no guards keepin' life away from us."

"That's right. We's the ones livin' it up." Steve nodded with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

The boys turned when the window opened behind them. Erika sat on the ledge. "My boss was stabbed tonight. He's not going to make it." She wiped at her eyes. "His partners tell me I got nothin' to worry about. The club will stay open."

“Yeah, we’s the ones livin’ it up.” Steve shook his head and shot Rik a necessary look. “You go to that school and you go to college and you get your hot moms outta here.”

“Steve.” Erika swatted him playfully with one hand and wiped the moisture off her face with the other. Her brown eyes weren’t the brown of her son’s but she still knew the heavy expression in his eyes when she saw it. “Come inside, boys. It’s getting cold out and you shouldn’t be smoking anyway.”

“We weren’t smoking.” Rik tried to smile her fears away but he knew they reeked of smoke thanks to Steve’s ever present pack.

--

A wave of the hand and the computers all fried. Smoke rose to the ceiling and set off the sprinkler system. Then the security system winked off. Two floors below the hard copy room was ablaze and every scrap of paper turned to ash before the fire department even knew there was an alarm to respond to.

TBC

[DMartinez]

Part 4

The uniform was rough on his skin and he just wanted to take it off and wear his jeans and T-shirt to school but he knew that would never happen. The tie felt alien around his neck but still, he straightened it in the bathroom mirror before orientation. He was about to give up when the kid walked in to do his own primping. They ignored each other but just as Rik was about to leave, the kid held out a picture. "Check it out."

The image made him ill. He snapped his eyes to the younger kids and swore there was a sick satisfaction in his eyes. Well, he had done nearly the same thing to the kid himself. "Where'd you get this?"

"He left them for me. Keep it. I've got dozens." Darin smoothed his hair in the mirror and walked out.

--

"Look at that and tell me I'm mistaken." Rik tossed the picture onto the table. He threw his tie at the refrigerator and nearly missed Steve when he turned to punch the wall. "Who knows how many brothers and sisters I could have if he does this shit all the time."

Erika picked up the picture and swallowed. It looked like him. As if he had never been street. Nice clothes, clean shaven, no piercings. "This can't be your daddy. He had tattoos. Lots of them."

"You sure?" Rik kicked the trash can. "That little shit said he's got dozens of pictures."

"Your daddy was not a cheater."

"You don't even know his last name." He yelled at her.

"Because he said it would be dangerous if the wrong people knew where he was, where you were, alright?" Erika snapped at him. "Maybe that's what happened. They got him."

"Who's they?"

"I don't know."

Steve looked between them and wished he could help but short of finding the dead beat and chaining him to a chair until he explained, there was absolutely nothing he could do.

A picture of him sat on the table. She smiled at it. "I met him at a rave, you know? I was young and stupid and was willing to follow him all over the city just to spend time with him. He was always looking over his shoulder and walked as if he had the whole world on his shoulders but at his feet at the same time."

Rik managed to sit down without knocking anything off the table like he wanted to do. Steve lifted himself to sit on the counter and listen to them have it out. He didn't care if he got yelled at, he grabbed Steve's pack of cigarettes and lit up.

Erika gave him a look but didn't tell him to put it out. "He was an orphan. Never let me see where he lived and I honestly think he lived on the streets. I won't pull your chain, he was probably a thief. He was always a big mystery. Without grossing you out too much, I'll just tell you that I was easily duped into bed whenever he came around. So, when I got pregnant, he panicked. When I saw him over the next few weeks, he was chain-smoking like you are now." Those words made Rik freeze for a moment but he was determined not to let his mother's words get to him. "I was afraid he'd ask me to 'take care of it' but he never did. He came when he could, brought me what he could, took care of me when he could. Your grampa was ready to kick me out but Zan told him that if he did, he'd kill him."

"What a charmer." Rik muttered.

"Maybe you're right. I didn't know him as well as I thought I did. I never met his friends, or learned his last name. He was there for us when we needed him. When you were born a month and a half early, he was around constantly." She pointed to the picture of Zan and Rik. "This is the man I knew. The one that cared about his son so much, he would rather have died than left you at the hospital alone for even one second. I honestly don't think he lost interest in us. I can't explain this picture." She held up the one he'd brought home. "I can't explain that boy you met."

"Let it go, chief." Steve pleaded. "It's done with. He ain't here. Not for you, not for that brat at that school. Your moms is cool. She's your mom and your dad." Steve laid a hand on the stiff shoulder. "Least you know what your pops looks like."

That knowledge slammed into him hard. He was continually bitching to Steve what an asshole his father must have been and he forgot that Steve had more of a reason to bitch than he did. "What do I do with this kid?"

"Blow him off. Don't blow your ride." Steve suggested and backed off. "I'm headin' out."

"I'll see you later." Rik nodded stiffly.

"Maybe." Steve shrugged and shut the door behind him when he left the Kaseys to themselves.

--

Dinner was a quiet affair. Artichokes and lasagna. Then pecan pie for desert. Darin rarely looked at either one of his parents but he refused to hand his head over his plate. The Rembrandt copy on the far wall held his interest all through the meal. Finally, he'd had enough. "I'm not going to run away. You can tell Mr. Henry at the door that he can stop reporting to you on where I go and when. I wouldn't know where to go if I did. I don't have any clues."

"Surely you're not still mad at us." Susan whispered.

"I guess not but you did lie to me so I'm not sure I trust you two all that much."

Gregory set his napkin aside and folded his hands on the table. "That's fine. I don't want to see this incident handicap your grades. You will be attending Adarma and you won't have time for drama."

"I've got all A's this term, like always." Darin set his fork aside. "May I be excused? My finals are this week and I just want to review the material."

"Go on." Susan interjected before Gregory could make more of a mess out of the matter. "See you in the morning."

"Good night, parents." Darin bit out and carried his plate to the kitchen to be washed. Plucking a bottle of water from the refrigerator, he headed back to his room. His one sanctuary to resume his study of the pictures. There had to be a clue of some kind, anything at all that would shed some light on the matter. There had to be something. Nobody was that good. There had to be a trace of something somewhere in one of the pictures.

TBC

'-)

[DMartinez]

Part 5

"Mom, I'm going to school." Rik poked his head into his mother's bedroom. She lifted a hand in acknowledgement that she had heard him and he backed out again while she never pulled her head from under her pillow. The club had closed late again and she had just gotten home a few hours before. Fiddling with his tie, he made his way down the hallway that led to the front door. Out in the main hall, Mrs. Green nodded at his uniform and stood up straight as if she had a hand in the boy's admission to the elite school. As he headed for the subway, he thought about it. Maybe Mrs. Green had done something. His old counselor had never spoken to him about it, even after he had gotten the scholarship.

--

"Dad." Darin called into the office again. "Dad, I'm going to be late."

"Just a minute." Greg covered the mouth piece on the phone for just a second. "Where were we? Ah, yes."

"I'll take a cab." Darin slammed the door and brushed past his mother on the way to the front door. "I'm staying after school again."

"All right sweetie, call when you know how late." Susan folded her hands together for a moment while she ran through her list of things to do that day and reached for her purse, she was running late as well.

Darin had Mr. Henry flag down a cab for him and rode the whole way to school without saying a word. He thrust a twenty at the driver when they arrived and headed inside the school without a single person noticing him, not that it was unusual. He tended to fly below the radar. Few of the kids paid him any attention after the first couple of weeks. He was the youngest sophomore in his class, and the shortest but he could almost feel his next growth spurt upon him. He turned to watch Ronald Kasey make his way up the stairs with a nod to this guy and a wink at that girl. If Ron Kasey was any indication, he could expect to grow a near foot in the next couple of years.

Jealousy sparked when the girls tittered and whispered in Kasey's wake. Darin was at the bottom of the social totem pole and he belonged here.

--

Rik made his way up the stairs. He could do this. He had been doing it for a couple of months but it never felt like it was going to get any easier. There was that runt Maples hiding behind the statue of JFK in the lobby. Not letting his mind wander to that subject, he nodded to his science partner and winked at the freshman girls just to see what they would do. They giggled and speculated behind their hands but they would never talk to him. Hell, his science partner only talked to him because he had to. People were still a little standoffish when it came to him. It was either snobbery or fear.

The only girl who had given him the time of day was the only girl in the school that he wouldn't touch. Christina Lawson was a beautiful female specimen but he knew, just like he could always tell, that she had been around more than enough times to make any guy cautious. Besides, Dari still showed up on the weekends for a little hello and goodbye. Saturday night after his mom had gone to work, oh they had come so close but neither of them had had any form of protection. Pushing her from his mind, he settled into his history class. A distraction like that was bound to get him into trouble.

--

Darin walked into the science lab to find his beakers had been emptied and washed. "Who threw away my project?"

"I did." Rik told the runt and continued his notes on his experiment.

"What?" Darin blinked at him.

"You didn't label nothing and the teach gave me the green."

“Speak English.” Darin yelled.

“The teacher said I could throw out your shit because it was sitting there for two weeks with no label and I needed some test tubes.” Rik over-enunciated every word. This punk wasn’t going to get the better of him.

"Have you any idea how long I'd been working on that?"

"Then you should have been more careful."

"Don't you have any respect for anything?"

"Hey." Rik turned. "Look in the mirror when you talkin' 'bout respect."

--

Gregory and Susan Maples rushed into the Adarma front foyer and were quickly joined by an irate blonde woman in a track suit. The trio marched to the office and waited impatiently for the secretary to call the dean. The two boys were seated across from each other just outside the door. Rik couldn't look his mother in the eye as she passed him to enter the dean's office. He had bruises on his cheek and chin. Darin kept his eyes on his shoes as his parents passed him. He had a black eye and a bruised rib. He had definitely not been the victor of the fight. It had not been the first fist fight inside the ancient walls and it would not be the last but it had attracted the most attention.

--

"No." Erika leaned forward. "You will not pin this on my son. Their boy is as much to blame."

"Darin has never gotten into a fight before in his life." Susan protested.

"Live on planet Earth for a while." Erika bit out. "They've been taunting each other since before they were even enrolled in this school. My boy may have gotten into a few fights before but he's never gotten into one at school before."

"Everyone just calm down." Jefferson rose from his seat. "The boys will be equally punished but I can assure you that one indiscretion is all any student is allowed. This will not happen again and if it does, both boys will be expelled… permanently." He sat once again. "I realize that we've got a unique situation here and it's caused some friction between Ronald and Darin. In addition to in-school suspension, the boys will be required to do some community services. Hopefully we can teach the boys some patience and tolerance so that we can keep their bright minds enrolled in this school. They've only been here a couple of months… I'm sure all they need is some time to adjust.”

--

Rik looked up when the shadow fell over him. There was a hissing noise and then a smacking of the teeth. “Kid, you look just like the old man.” The man chuckled softly to himself then lifted the kid’s face by the chin. “Nasty bruise there. There’s some shit going down. You think you can make it two blocks left and five down to a black car?”

“Excuse me?” Rik narrowed his eyes at the man and took his face back.

“Yep, just like the old man.” Just then the dean’s doors opened and the four were still talking about punishment for the moment. Rik turned and caught Darin’s eye, who was eyeing the strange man curiously. The man turned and when he spied Darin, there was no mistaking the shock that he was in. “Jesus Christ. That class A fuck-up.” The man turned to Rik. “The shit hits the fan and you take him with you.”

Before Rik could say a word, the man walked into the throng of adults. “Jerfferson, baby. How’re you doing?”

“Ah, wonderful. Greg, Susan, Ms. Kasey, I’d like to introduce you to Mr. Kal Langley II. He is the one who set up Taran Scholastics and responsible for this wonderful opportunity.” Jefferson fixed a stern gaze on the boys sitting further out in the office. “It seems that we’ve got a couple of passionate scholars on our hands, Mr. Langley.”

“That’s what this country needs, some leaders with fire in their bellies.” Kal nodded to the boys. “I believe we need to speak, Jefferson… about my candidates who apparently didn't make the cut. My instincts are never wrong and I want to see these test scores.”

“And we will discuss the matter soon." Peters nodded and turned to his students' parents. "Mr. Kasey, Mr. Maples, please reassure your parents that this will never happen again.”

Rik rose as his mother stalked over. She had been woken up halfway through her sleep cycle to see to her errant son and he had to apologize. “Mom…”

“A fight… at your private school, no less.” Erika crossed her arms and took a deep breath. “You’re lucky that they are only suspending you for a week and that they’re not expelling you. You know that, right? What if that man right there had decided that you couldn’t have your scholarship anymore because you got into a fight? He could do it. Do you know who he is?”

“No, should I?” Rik thumbed his nose.

“That man is Kal Langley Jr. He brings the talent to the club. He tells his clients that my club is the place they want to hang out when they’re in the city. He calls his secretary and she calls me and we discuss courtesy tables and snack preferences. Sometimes we even book certain bands just for certain celebrities.” Erika calmed herself down some. “His daddy was somebody famous and that makes him famous, too. And he’s the one who said that you, Mr. Ronald Kasey, had enough brains to go to this school. So, you’re going to straighten out. You didn’t do this at your old school because you know better and here you are at a private school picking on little boys.”

“I wasn’t picking on him. He started it.” He felt his emotions getting out of control and stopped himself from yelling at his mother. “I’m sorry. It’s not going to happen again.”

“Good.” Erika smiled at Kal when he looked her way. She furrowed her brow. “I could swear I’ve seen him before.”

“I thought you knew who he was.”

“I do now. I’ve never seen his face before… I don’t think. I get the feeling I know him, though.”

“He sure seems to think he knows me… and my dad.” It was a risk that he was willing to take. “He came in here talking some weird… stuff.”

“What?” Erika’s brown eyes went wide.

“Said I looked like my old man.”

Darin listened as his parents griped him out. His side hurt. That man kept staring at him. Gregory cursed under his breath. “You were on a good track. Good grades and a good school and now you’re getting into fist fights?”

“He started it.” It was a weak defense at best.

“Sweetie, what happened?” Susan gently touched his bruised face.

The front doors swung open and heavy footsteps broke the quiet atmosphere. Rik snapped his head around to look at Kal, who shrugged and straightened his jacket. The man jerked his head to a set of doors and then to Darin. The footsteps rounded the corner and a man threw open the office doors. He wore a black suit, white shirt and black tie. “Pardon us but we’re going to have to take a few of you with us for questioning.”

“What in the hell are you doing? You can’t just barge into a school like this.” Jefferson reached for his cell phone and a soldier appeared next to the man in black and shot the dean’s hand. The secretary dove beneath her desk.

Heart beating rapidly, Rik reached for his mother’s hand. She squeezed it tightly and inched her body in front of his. Darin watched the soldiers grow in number and panicked. He stepped in front of his parents. His heart beat so fast he thought he was going to have a heart attack.

“Ok, boys. Open fire. Don’t kill… just maim. We want the boys alive.” The man in black snapped his fingers and guns cocked en mass.

“You boys are all the same.” Kal rolled his eyes and lifted his hand. “Learn some new lines, would you?”

“Kill him.” The man in black shook his head at Kal as if he were just a fly on the wall.

The bullets started flying and many things happened. Kal let loose a burst of energy that leveled the soldiers. Rik pulled his mother behind his body and threw out a useless hand to the bullets. Eerily enough, Darin threw his hand out and shoved his dad away with the other. Just as the bullets reached them, a green energy field erupted from Darin’s hand, stopping the bullets.

“Holy shit, we gotta get out of here.” Rik raced for the doors, nudging the Maples as he passed, “Come on.”

“Bout time, kid.” Kal muttered and readied himself for the mass of soldiers already replacing the downed men. “Get going.”

Darin pulled his parents along after Rik and Erika. The door led to a courtyard and on the other side of it was a door that led outside to the janitor's garden shed. Seeking to hide, Rik opened the door and held it until they were all in. Stuck, Rik slammed a fist into the wall. Blood ran down his fingers from his busted knuckles but he couldn’t even think about it. There had been men with guns pointed at them all, seeking to take them.

Darin stared at his hand and when he looked up, his parents were doing the same; staring at their son’s hand and wondering what the hell had happened back there. Greg clutched his arm, discreetly. “I’m willing to bet that's why those men want our son.”

“Sons.” Erika corrected softly as she lifted Rik’s hand and found the skin whole, no longer bleeding. “How did you do that?”

“Do…” he looked down. Blood had indeed stopped flowing from cuts that had vanished. Still, the blood covered his hand as evidence of the wound. “Huh.” He looked to Darin, who was fascinated by his hand. “That Kal guy, he knew this was coming. There’s a car I’m supposed to take you to.”

“Why?” Darin demanded.

“I don’t know. He said something about my old man and then he saw you and… I don’t think he knew about you.” Rik managed to force the words out. “I don’t know what the hell Kal Langely Jr. is but I’m willing to bet he’s on our side.”

“There’s a window back there somewhere.” Greg gasped as the pain grew worse. “In the back. Go on and get out of here. The three of you are young… and small. You can make it out of here.”

“Dad.” Darin turned to his parents and saw immediately what he was talking about. The Maples were hitting on their fifties and had lived a bountiful life. He looked to Erika Kasey and found she was still in her prime.

“Ms. Kasey, if you would?” Greg jerked his head to the back of the boiler room. “We used to party in here. There’s a window that opens outside the grounds. If memory serves, there are loose bars and they’ll come right out if you pull on them.”

“Greg.” Susan bit her lip but she knew she could never keep up.

“You keep the boys safe.” Greg told Erika.

“I’ll try.” Erika nodded. She was scared but she knew something wasn’t right and it wasn’t going to let it take her son… or anyone else’s.

The window was small and the bars had been replaced since Gregory Maples had been enrolled at Adarma but that didn't stop Erika from picking the lock and shoving open the swinging window cover. It was a squeeze for her curvy body and for her son's broad shoulders but they managed and pulling Darin was easy enough as he still had a good growth spurt left in his lanky limbs. Rik took the lead and led them as Kal had directed. There it was. A black car. No plates, no stickers.

A man appeared from the driver’s side and moved around to open the door for them. After a moment of hesitation, the trio slid inside and the door was shut behind them. A glass separated them from the driver. The car moved almost immediately. Rik looked to his hands and then to Darin, who had his eyes closed against tears. Then he looked to his mother. “You still think that fool ain’t my brother?”

Erika shut her eyes and leaned on the cool glass of the car window. “I wish I knew what was going on.”

“Were they the ‘them’ that dear old DNA was talking about?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“What the hell is going on?” Rik looked to the younger boy. “You cool?”

“I’ll be fine… once I find our dad and interrogate the hell out of him.” Darin sniffed. “You feel weird?”

“Weird doesn’t cover it.”

“Where do you think he’s taking us?”

"Somewhere safe, hopefully.”

--

Erika saw the roadblock first. When she peered out the window, the soldiers looked just like the ones at the school. "They're going to get us."

"What?" Rik followed her gaze and saw the same thing.

"What are we going to do?" Darin took a deep breath. He felt tired, a feeling he had never really felt before. He didn't know if he could run with the strange feeling he had in his gut. "I've never been to this part of the city before."

"We have." Rik studied the streets and the distance to the road block. "What do you think, Mom? We could make it around the roadblock."

"But we don't even know where we're supposed to be going in the first place." She protested.

"Well, we could sit here and get busted or we could move."

"Let's move." She nodded and reached for the door handle.

"I wouldn't advise that, Ms. Kasey." A voice erupted from the intercom. "My orders were to take the boy to a safe place."

"Are you going to get us through that roadblock?" Darin called up to the driver. When the driver didn't speak, Rik reached for the door and it locked.

"I'm not to let the boy out of my sight."

"Which one of us is the boy?" Darin called up and there was no answer. "Let's go."

"Don't go giving orders, Peewee." Rik shook his head. "You just keep up, alright."

"Boys, can it." Erika griped and lifted the lock and threw the door open before the driver could lock the door again. "You both keep up. I don't know what's going on but if it has to do with those men with guns, I suggest we be elsewhere."

“Just follow me.” Rik took the lead.

"And where are you taking us?” Darin demanded.

“Someplace safe.”

TBC

[DMartinez]

Part 6

Darin watched Erika pace the room. She was a pretty lady and that got him wondering about his own mother. What did she look like? Was this Erika Kasey representative of the type of woman that 'Zan' went for? Was it a blonde thing? A brown-eyed thing? Was it body-type? Personality? What was the woman like that had given birth to him? For all he knew Zan didn't have a type and anything with breasts was his type. Turning to watch his half-brother, Darin examined his girlfriend. It was impossible to tell what her natural hair color was. She was pretty enough, if you went for the rocker-metal types. She might be prettier without so much make-up, or silver appendages… maybe in a plaid skirt and cardigan you couldn't tell her from anyone who went to Adarma.

They had made him change into that girl's brother's clothes. They fit alright but they felt alien to him. He knew he had to. His Adarma uniform would stand out. Rik had pulled his own clothes out of Dari's room, and got a quick earful about it from his mother. The apartment was dingy and small and the girl claimed that four people had lived in it at one point. He found that hard to believe. "What's Dari short for?" Dari looked to the window and Rik shot Darin a dirty look. "What? I was just wondering."

"Kids are mean, Darin, sweetie." Erika never ceased her pacing, and wondered how her son could sit so still when there were people with guns looking for them.

"You told your mom?" Dari sat up and away from her sometimes boyfriend.

"I tell her everything." Rik shrugged slightly.

"They call each other names and sometimes they stick… even after they've outlived their applications." Erika finished quickly.

"They used to call me D-A-I-R-Y." The girl whispered. "You know, as in cow."

"Then what's your real name?" Darin pressed, he could hardly believe that slip of a girl had been overweight at all.

"Meredith." Rik kissed her head and drew her back into her arms. "But we don't call her that."

The window opened and a box landed in the apartment before Steve slipped inside the apartment. "Sup." His bald head shone in the half-light of the apartment and his chains clinked as he straightened. "I got these out before those guys you said came up."

"Thank you, Stevie, sweetie." Erika nodded distractedly as she paced.

"What's the what? Everyone okay?" Steve nodded to Rik who did nothing but shrug wearily.

Darin noticed that when Steve popped in that Rik's girlfriend looked nervous. She had stiffened and pulled away from Rik just a bit. "Who's this guy?"

"My best friend." Rik slapped hands with Steve in greeting. "You know, the guy that watches my back. You got one of those?"

The young boy looked away with downcast eyes. Before Erika could reprimand her son, Steve did it for him. "Hey, he's just a kid. He looks scared. Lay off."

Rik just nodded and turned his eyes to his girlfriend. "I'm just stressed." He eyed the kid, who was eyeing the box. "Knock yourself out, kid."

Immediately, Darin reached for the box and slid the lid off. Erika began to protest but she could not deny it any longer. That boy could be her own he looked so much like the child she had given birth to, and that child looked like his father. She didn't know what to do. Eventually they would have to leave the girl's apartment and then where would they go? Would this blow over if they laid low long enough? Would anything go back to normal?

Rik couldn't think. His mind was still back in that shed with his bleeding hand, his healed hand. Then there was that green thing the kid had used to stop the bullets. What in the hell was going on? When had he gone from a normal teenaged boy in New York to something else? What they could do… that had to be the reason for the men in black. How did they know where to find them? How did they know what they could do when Rik had no clue, when obviously the kid had no clue? He turned his eyes to the kid and the pictures. That had to be it. Their father. He had been captured and tortured and experimented on and they found out he had children. What took them so long? Was he still alive or did they kill him… or torture him to death and that's why they wanted his kids?

Darin sorted through the well-preserved photos. An accumulation of time; from the day that Ronald Kasey was born until he was about two years old. He noticed something about the pictures… they were all taken near the same time of day, save for the ones in the hospital. "Is this morning or afternoon?"

"Morning." Erika answered as she sat next to him. "He came in the morning, very early, he said it was the only time he could get away. He always left after noon or so." She smiled as she picked up a picture of Zan dozing with the baby. "He always took inventory when he left and in the morning he'd bring whatever it was we needed. I never really realized how much that little bit mattered until he stopped coming and we didn't get those little things anymore."

"How old were you?" Darin asked softly, his voice deep for the moment but he knew that the deepness would not last. His voice was fluctuating in an annoying way lately.

"Sixteen." She told him honestly. "He was born in June that year. Two months early and he stayed in the hospital a week. Rik was a year and a half when Zan left. I… had been planning this Thanksgiving with my father. We were going to eat early so Zan could be there and he hadn't been by in a week but… I was sure he would be there. I burnt the turkey and dried out the potatoes and my father didn't help matters when went off on what an irresponsible jerk Zan was…"

"And you never heard from him again?"

"No and judging by your age, he didn't waste time replacing us."

"But… he didn't. He gave me away."

"Maybe he did it to protect us from this or maybe he didn't care…" Erika shook her head. "I'm too old to hold out hope that he's coming back or that I can find him. I just hope that I can get us all through this until I can get some answers for us all."

Rik stared at his mother and the boy and felt a twinge of jealousy. He wasn't used to sharing her love and that's what she was giving. She was showing her loving self by trying to reassure the boy. His eyes drifted to the kitchen where Dari and Steve were talking and that's when he noticed it. The looks. The smiles. He almost charged out of his seat when he saw where Steve touched her. Too late, Steve caught himself and turned to meet the fury of his best friend's eyes. "Mom, let's get going."

"What?" Erika snapped her head to her enraged son's face. "Honey?"

"Stash the pictures, we have to find someplace else to hide." Rik got to his feet without ever taking his eyes off his former best friend.

"What's…" Erika had no clue what she had missed but she knew something wasn't right.

"Let's leave Lancelot and Guinevere alone." He made for the door but Steve tried to stop him and nearly got hit in the eye for his trouble. Dari shoved herself between them when push and shove became an issue. Erika had never seen her son with such anger in his eyes but still she gathered the boy and the box to go.

"Stop." Dari placed her hands on Rik's arms to still them but he yanked them out from under her touch. "Rik, I am so sorry. We didn't know how to tell you."

"You fucking tell me instead of fucking around behind my back." He hissed at them. He all but dared Steve to meet his eyes but the shamed friend couldn't do it. "Fucking coward." He tore down the hall without waiting to see if his mother and half-brother were behind him.

Erika paused beside Steve. She was disappointed in her son's best friend but there wasn't time for this. "He doesn't hate you. Take care and stay away from the apartment until we tell you. I don't know who these people are or what they'll do to find out where we are."

"I… I'll take those. I'll hide them." Steve reached for the box.

"No one sees them." Erika made him promise before she took Darin's hand and chased after Rik. They caught up with him on the base level of the apartment building. He was still and stoic but she knew her baby was hurting. "Come on, boys, we'll find someplace else to hide out."

--

The sewer was dark, dank and perfumed by rats, roaches and various molds and mildews. Darin's skin was crawling just thinking about the things he could catch down there. They were tucked into a tunnel so they could rest. Erika had told them to sleep but while they were quiet, no one could sleep, so Darin shut his eyes and let her hand on his back soothe his frazzled nerves. Then he knew that no one else could sleep either. "Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"What did he do to us?"

"What do you mean?"

Rik took a breath and for once in his teenaged life laid his head on his mother's shoulder. "He messed up your life and now he's messing up mine and he's not even here." He took another huge breath and let it out slowly. "We're not talking about it but we need to… could he do… what we did?"

"I don't know." Erika bit her lip in thought. "I hate to keep saying this but I really didn't know him as well as I wanted to believe I did. Two years, baby. He didn't share stories about his home, he rarely talked about his friends."

"Then what was there?"

"He liked to listen and you know your mother likes to talk." She shared a laugh with him. "I was working nights, then. I was still sleepy when he came over and he… well, he really kept coming all that time for you. We still had fun, you know. We were young and clinging to something that couldn't last the way it was going."

"How old was he?"

"I dunno. Could have been 18, 19, maybe we were the same age… he had a very old soul. When you looked into his eyes… the knowledge was there. He knew something that no one else did. He saw the world differently."

"How?"

"When I saw the cops, I saw potential protectors. Crime-fighters. When he saw the cops, he saw oppressors and potential murderers."

"Why?"

"He said, 'never trust what you don't know. The only one who cares about you, is you.' He was a bit paranoid but I believe that he had good reason."

"How could you tell?"

"His eyes. They weren't nearly as hard and tough as he pretended to be but sometimes they could be and when they were soft like I knew he could be, you could see into his soul and his soul was a damaged thing. When his guard was down, he was a lost little boy but that's not something anyone ever accused him of. Maybe he wasn't in love with me but I was in love with him… at least I thought I was. I was a stupid little girl growing up way too fast." Erika kissed her son's head. "Maybe he could do what you did with your hand. Maybe he could do what little Darin did with that… thing. Maybe that's why he didn't trust anyone and maybe that's why he was always hiding who he was."

"I've been trying, to do it again." He held up his scraped hand. He'd been running it against the wall since they'd been hiding down there. It was raw and bleeding in some places. "It's not working." He sighed heavily. "If I could do this all along, why haven't I?"

"I don't know."

"What if it was that Kal Langley person?" Darin spoke up. "What if he did something to us when we were in the office together?" He was beginning to feel numb. He felt very alone without the comforts he was used, without his parents next to him, without knowing he was safe just because he was. "What if he's like… an uncle or a relative of some kind? That's why he did what he did up there and we can do what we do? If it's all genetics… what is it?"

"He's a perceptive kid." The voice boomed over them. There was the devil himself. Kal crouched to look at them. "You three are good at hiding. It's taken me all day and most of the night to find you."

"What's going on?" Erika demanded.

"Well, your baby daddy wants his baby." Kal sounded like he was joking but he didn't look all that nice. "There are barricades all over the city and even I can't get through them." He produced a card from his pocket. "This is where he is. You'll get all the answers you need if and when you get to him."

"Where has he been?" Erika demanded. "It's been years."

"He's been running, sweetheart, just like you're doing now… only now, they know about him and about him." Kal pointed to each boy in turn. "You've got to go soon."

"Why won't you help us?"

"Somebody has to throw off the scent. You get to his highness and you get there in one piece. He doesn't want the merchandise damaged." Kal rose to his full height. "The family is going to love you guys." He chuckled as he strode through the sewers as if they were the pathways of Central Park instead of the stinking bowels of New York City.

Erika looked at the address on the card and furrowed her brow. "I don't know where this is." She showed it to her son and he shook his head that he didn't know either.

Darin pulled the card out of her hand. "I know this. It's just outside the city."

"We've got to get past the barricades first." Rik shook his head.

"Then we'll get past them because I have a few words that I need to have with Zan." Erika got to her feet and gestured for the boys to get up. "Let's go find your father."

--

The streets were near to empty so early in the morning when the trio emerged from the sewers. The shops were just starting to open for the morning's rush to work. Gates were raised only halfway, market owners were spraying down produce and sweeping the ground. It was as they passed a locked pawn shop that they paused. The TVs were already on and there was a running bulletin on the bottom of the screen. Three fugitives wanted for terrorism. Fortunately it gave no names and bare descriptions. It meant they were wanted and were looking for help if only to maintain the pretense they needed to retain the barricades. Once they got out of downtown, they could hide themselves better. Those neighborhoods wouldn't care who was walking down the streets.

They walked swiftly and didn't look left or right. When the morning rush started, they would blend in perfectly… if it weren't for the soldiers standing in the middle of every block…

TBC

[DMartinez]

Part 7

Rik looked up and down the street. How had they gotten so far without being noticed or noticing all the many, many soldiers? There were no shops they could duck into and no apartments they could hide in. Maybe he should have eaten his pride and stayed with Dari and Steve… but then, Kal would have never found them. Were they looking at them? Did they know? His heart sped up until it was echoing in his ears. Were they heading toward them? His hands itched, just like they had back at Adarma. When the soldiers began jogging toward the trio, his hands lifted in either direction. What was he doing? He had to stop them. They had to stop moving forward. They had to stop. Backward would be better.

The energy ripped through him right after the panic and everyone in a 50-foot radius was thrown to the ground. Glass shattered, horns blared, and kiosks blew over with the force emitted from the boy. He gasped for oxygen as the air around them stilled. He felt his mother's hands on his face before he registered that she was standing right in front of him. "Rik, sweetie, what did you do?" Her brown eyes bored into his. "Rik, it's Mom. Come back."

His next few breaths shuddered in his chest as her words sank in. "Mom…"

"We have to go before they get up. Let's go." Erika gripped his hand in hers and Darin's with the other and lead them down the street, stepping over bodies and debris. All of them breathed but most had hit their heads on the concrete and had trouble getting back to their equilibrium. By the time they turned the corner, the shots were ringing out. Rik felt one whiz past his ear and pushed his mother and Darin ahead of him.

The crowds parted. It wasn't as if street chases were uncommon in this city. When the shots reached the ears of the pedestrians, they dove for doorways and alleyways. Rik felt his legs protesting at his fast strides and continued effort. He was fast but normally it was a short run when avoiding the laziest cops in the city. These guys weren't lazy and they weren't giving up. Looking to his mother, she was having a time of it herself and Darin… the boy had probably not done more than the prep school P.E. classes required. They had to stop soon.

When Erika saw the subway signs, she ran for the tunnel. If they couldn't get on the train, they could hide in the tunnels, maybe find a way back into the sewers. Gripping Darin's shoulders, they raced down the steps, nearly tripping over their own feet more than a few times. Her heart was pounding and her breathing was getting difficult. They need to rest, a chance to catch their breath, but how could they do that when those men were relentless and willing to shoot at anything that moved.

The panic was building again. Rik glanced behind him and the soldiers were gaining. Turning too late, he tumbled down the steps, hitting his head, his arms, his legs, cracking his ribs. Over and over until he hit the bottom step. Gasping in pain, Rik shoved himself to his feet and followed his mother onto the swiftly emptying train. No one wanted to be where the bullets were going. He slipped through the doors just as they shut and the train was in motion. He fell on the floor and people stepped away from him, some left the car altogether.

Erika knelt and cradled her son in her arms with tears forming in her eyes. What had they been dragged into? What in the hell was going on? Why couldn't she protect her son from it all?

Darin stood and stared. Why had he done it? Rik, his half-brother, had taken drag of his own accord. Why? He had protected the one person on the planet he couldn't stand. Why? He was bleeding from the mouth and head. He was in very actual pain in addition to the damage he had sustained in their fight the previous morning. Why? And what had Rik done back there that had leveled soldiers and pedestrians alike with just a sweep of his hands? Why did any of it have to happen? Why?

"mom?" Rik winced as she gently touched his face.

"Sh. Rest."

"If only I could do what I did again." He whispered but it was swallowed up by a moan of pain. "I fell."

"Rest. We'll patch you up soon enough." Erika kissed his forehead and bit back a wave of revulsion at the smell of blood, the feel of it on her lips. This was her son and she'd be damned if anything worse happened to him. People were still backing away from them, exiting the car if they couldn't stand to look anymore. "What's the next stop?"

No one answered her for a long time. They all just stood and stared. Finally it was a young mother with a child in her arms. "Uptown, then back." She hugged her child closer. "Do you need an ambulance?"

"No." Erika shook her head and looked to the scared boy standing over them. "Darin, honey, sit. Rest." Slowly he sank to the ground. "It's going to be okay. The men with the guns. They aren't on the subway."

"Let's get him on a bench." A man stepped forward with his buddy. Together they lifted Rik and took him to the end of the car to an empty stretch of bench. "What's happening lady?"

Darin stepped up. His best subject was creative writing. He could do this. "We're both students at Adarma."

"The prep school?" The man furrowed his brow as he shucked his jacket to pillow Rik's head.

"Yeah. These men with guns broke down the doors in the office and started shooting people." Darin went on. "Now they're trying to say we're terrorists but… all we did was get into a fight in the science lab."

"Damn government conspiracies." The man breathed to his buddy.

"Our tax dollars at work. They're chasing prep students and their pretty mother." His buddy agreed. The car had mostly cleared by then. The man knelt to examine Rik gently. "I'm studying to be an EMT. If only I could remember those damn words, I could pass the damn test already. I hate working up so high." He muttered and looked to Erika. "What's his name?"

"Ronald… Rik, we call him Rik." She stammered, relief flooding her chest at the generosity of these good Samaritans.

"Rik, my name is Jay." The man told him firmly. "Can you hear me?"

Rik shook his head up and down as best he could but the pain was consuming. "Yeah. I fell."

"I saw. It was a pretty good tumble. You're lucky you didn't break your neck or knock yourself out. I'm going to feel your legs for breaks." Jay pulled a knife out of his pocket and clenched it between his teeth. He ran his hands up and down and except for some expletives from his patient, everything seemed to be fine. "I think you banged it up pretty good. Maybe a fracture but nothing serious. I'm surprised you made that run if it hurt this bad."

"Didn't hurt until I stopped running." Rik bit out and shifted uncomfortably. "My chest hurts."

"How?"

"Think I busted some ribs." Rik allowed the man to lift his arms for him and held still while he cut open a hole in his shirt to examine more closely.

Erika backed into a seat with Darin, stroking the boy's head absently as she watched this Jay person go to work. In a few minutes, Rik was sitting up and blood was being cleaned from his face. Her heart never stopped pounding though. The subway stopped just shy of where it should have and the panic began again. They were here. They had stopped the train and they were going to get them. Rik was in no condition to run and they weren’t going to leave him behind.

Darin felt like crying. There could only be one reason they had stopped the train the way they had. His heart sped up. Panic flooded his mind but he could do nothing but squeeze his eyes shut and pray for invisibility. They couldn't catch them if they couldn't see them. Then something popped. Popped? Released? Flooded? He couldn't breathe and no one else was moving. He could hear the men talking to each other. "Where did they go?"

"Who?"

"The…"

"Gentlemen." A third voice, but who?

"Who are you?"

"An investigator. Have you seen these fugitives? We chased them onto this train." The voice sent chills through Darin’s body.

"Who?

"Nah. We've never seen them."

"What did they do?"

"They're terrorists. Don't let their appearances fool you. They are quite dangerous… any clue why you two are the only ones on this car?" Contempt heavy in the strange man’s voice.

"My buddy felt like he was going to get sick. Scared everyone out of here."

"I'm better now though."

"Glad to hear. So you're sure you haven't seen the fugitives. They weren't in this car?" Probing too hard, it seemed, fishing for details.

"No. Everyone went that way."

"But everyone in that car saw all three of them in this car." There, more fishing, baiting, waiting.

"Where would they hide? That door heads out on to the tracks and even I wouldn't go out there without a flashlight."

A door was thrown open after much protestation. "Guess that door would make it a little hard to get out of here.. rusted shut the way it was." Disappointment?

"That's what we're saying mister. Ain't no one but us back here."

"This is White, Brown copy. This is White. Brown, do you copy?" Irritation.

"It's gotta be the train. Cellphones don't work down here neither."

"Must be. Let's go gentlemen. I'm sure you've got places to be. I've got some terrorists to apprehend. We'll all go out together." Despondence.

"Anyone seen my knife?"

When the voices could no longer be heard, Darin opened his eyes, the reverse happened. Unpopped? Unreleased? Unflooded? He gasped for air and stared all around him. What had he done? Erika released the breath she had been holding. She had done like Darin and kept her eyes closed and somehow it had worked. Rik looked over at them. What had just happened. Everyone acted like they had suddenly vanished from the car. "Darin? What did you do?"

"Did I do something?"

"Yes." Rik nearly exclaimed. He let his head fall back onto the borrowed jacket. "What the hell is going on?"

"Why now? Why are these things happening now and not yesterday or the day before that, the week, the year… when we were children. Why are they happening now?" Darin hugged himself. He felt drained. He needed to eat… but first he was going to throw up. Rushing to the open exit door, he puked all over the tracks.

Erika studied their surroundings as she went to comfort Darin. Rik was hurting pretty badly, the tunnels weren't the best way to get around the city and the soldiers were bound to start a search… there, a map. This wasn't her train. If ever she needed a subway, this wasn't the one she jumped on. The route was unfamiliar, the stops unknown, but that could work with them… if she could navigate them through the tunnels quickly enough to keep ahead of the soldiers.

"Let's go." Rik forced himself to his feet with a loud grunt. He wasn't feeling at all steady. The knife from their good Samaritan Jay had left behind, wincing at the pain the effort caused, Rik pocketed the knife… just in case.

"Sit your butt down." Erika hissed at him as she drew Darin into her arms so she could rub his back.

"We have to go. They gonna come back." Rik protested and limped to them, hands wrapped around his middle. His insides screamed as if they were all grinding against each other at the same time. "Pick up, junior and let's go, Mom. Those guys… we got lucky is all."

"That way?" Erika gestured to the dark tunnel. "Left or right?"

"We'll figure that out when we get to a junction." Rik eased himself down onto the tracks, being careful to avoid vomit. He leaned on the car until his mother and half-brother had descended. The trio moved as quietly and quickly as possible but they were all tired. Rik was injured and weak. Darin was weak and his headache was growing. He didn't even know he had one to begin with but it was beginning to feel as if he had never been without it. Whatever it was that he had done, it was draining and all-consuming and brought up so many more questions about his existence than he thought possible.

--

Footsteps echoed in their ears as they traversed the tunnels but it was impossible to tell which direction they originated. On into the darkness, stepping into man-holds when trains passed. Hours, days, who knew how long they traveled. Rats ran over their feet when they rested, they stayed to the far wall when they reached the loading berths. Soldiers lingered in them, waiting for trains, scanning the crowds and the trio slipped under the lip of the berth to keep from being seen. Erika took every rest opportunity to check over her son's wounds. Her eyes adjusted to the dark but there was no light and nothing clean to wash him with. Whenever she looked to Darin, she wished she could help. He looked like he was in pain but there wasn't anything she could do. She normally kept aspirin in her purse but she had been so angry with Rik when she got the call that she didn't even take that with her to Adarma that morning… was it yesterday?

Once she was convinced that they were completely and thoroughly lost, she hid them all in a sewage grate, using Rik's borrowed knife to pry it open. They rested. Rik slept. He was exhausted and in so much pain. The tumble down the stairs had probably given him a concussion but she'd watch him. They'd be careful. She ran her fingers through his hair as he slept with his head on her lap. They hadn't laid like this since he was a baby, right after Zan left. He had nightmares something fierce one night but he had never remembered it. At the time he was too little to talk but later, he knew something. She suspected he had repeats of the nightmare but that he could never fully remember it and it attributed to his sullen days… they were few but memorable for a mother.

Darin leaned against her, his back to her but his head on her shoulder. She could do nothing but squeeze him around the middle from time to time to reassure him of her presence. He was dozing and muttering to himself in those moments when he wasn't fully conscious. Whatever he had done on the train had taken so much out of him that he couldn't even sleep peacefully. What had he done? He was a short boy, really. It was hard to remember when Rik was in that phase, between little boy and teenager. Rik was practically grown. He had another inch or two to grow but this boy… His hands and feet looked odd on his skinny body, his face still round and would probably shoot up a foot or so in the next two years. Rik's five o'clock shadow was in full effect but Darin didn't have so much as fuzz on his cheeks. "I can't find you."

"What?" She whispered. Darin breathed in deep and snuggled against her arm. "Darin? Did you say something?"

The boy slipped into a deeper sleep without another word. Rik sighed and rolled away from her. They needed to get out of the small cramped space and back up into the real world and find this address that Kal had left them. They needed a guide but the only entities they had encountered were rats. They needed food. They needed water. They needed to be anywhere but in the sewer.

--

"Mom?" Rik panicked upon waking. Where was he? Why was it so dark? His body ached something fierce but somewhat less than it had before. His mother's hands on his shoulders calmed his nerves.

"Sh. I'm here." Erika whispered, massaging lightly. "Darin's still asleep. I think we should let him for a while longer."

"And did you? Did you sleep?" He couldn't make out her face in the dark. He had no way of telling if she was going to lie to him.

"I suppose I must have." She released him so he could sit up. He was 17. Too old to be coddled. "How are you feeling? Hurt still?"

"A little. I'll be okay."

"And you heart? Your pride? Those still in one piece?" When he didn't answer, she realized she shouldn't have brought it up. She strained to see his face but it was too dark. "Honey?" Nothing. "Steve is still your best friend."

He snorted. "Best friend. Right. Is that why he's sleeping with my girlfriend?"

"You don't know that. I thought you said you weren't serious about her."

"Mom." He scoffed. He couldn't talk about his feelings for Dari with his mother. "I really liked her, okay? I know Steve." He shook his head at his own naiveté. "Steve is… was my hero. He told me everything… I know him better than I know myself on most days. He always gets what he wants… we just never wanted the same thing before." Rik let his head fall back against the dark metal of the shaft. "Maybe he didn't do it the way he usually does it… but he did it and that probably means… he loves her, too." His life was over. No girl, no friends and oh, yeah, scores of soldiers waiting to gun him down. "Mom?"

"It'll get better…"

"No, um… I was wondering… Kal said my dad was looking for me… What are you going to do when you see him?" He couldn't read her face in the dark but the length of time that she took to answer him spoke volumes.

"Punch his lights out, maybe. That's option number one. Payback for leaving us the way he did before your grandpa died." She shrugged helplessly. Oh, how she had agonized after he had left. She had lost so much weight from forgetting to eat, crying constantly… having only her child to keep her sane against her father's rants and raves. He death a year later had snapped her out of her funk and got her to move on with her life. "Probably won't know what to do. Whatever this shit is… it had better be worth it."

"What if he's got someone… else… someone new? You know?"

"I really don't expect him to be waiting around. I mean… if he is… I might like it, you know? But I guess I gave up a long time ago." She cradled Darin's upper body against her as she shifted to be more comfortable. "This one is proof that he moved on… at least once."

"What if this is big? What if I have to go away?"

"You, Ronald Israel, are not a man yet. You're still my baby and where you go, I go." She found his hand and squeezed it. "We're Kaseys. We're strong and we don't say die. We stick together."

"But grampa."

"Then this starts with me and it doesn't ever end cause you'll pass it on to your kids and they'll pass it on to theirs and it won't ever die." Erika spoke so passionately that for once, Rik had to really look at his mother's life. Her mother ran off when Erika was five. Grandpa Kasey tried to raise her with an iron fist but when she hit fifteen, she was hard to control. If it weren't for Zan, Grandpa Kasey would have kicked her out. Rik vaguely remembered the day he died.

It was a weekend, early in the evening. Mom was working and Grandpa was babysitting. They were playing on the floor. He could never quite remember what it was but he remembered that something had scared Grandpa. He leapt to his feet, usually an uneasy task for the big man. He remembered most clearly the look in his eyes as he stared at… whatever it was. Then he started breathing hard. Then he clutched his left arm. He fell on the couch, a glass broke. He remembered crying for a long time when Grandpa didn't get up. Then Mrs. Quiroz and Steve were there. Then he remembered that he would go to Mrs. Quiroz's to play with Steve everyday after that because Mom was working or crying all the time. Then they had moved to a cheaper building in the neighborhood. Mrs. Quiroz was the babysitter until she had to get a second job By then Steve and Rik were terrorizing the neighborhood. He remembered the lonely nights when Mom waitressed and the celebration when she got her trial at the books. Maybe they never had cable or video games but they always had food and they always had each other.

"Rik…" Erika interrupted his thoughts but she never got a chance to ask her question because a blinding light shone down on them, rousing the sleeping Darin it was so bright.

"Who's down there?" A voice boomed. They squinted into the light that shifted only slightly but they couldn't see through it. "Good God. You alright, kid?"

"Banged up a little. We're a little lost and a lot stuck." Rik called back up as he tried to get to his feet.

"Just a minute. Stay right there. I gotta get a line and a winch and we'll get you folks right out. I'll be right back. Don't move."

TBC…

[DMartinez]

Part 8

Darin pulled the jacket around his body and sipped the lukewarm tomato soup from the borrowed thermos. Erika used the first aid kit and the small lantern to fix up her son. From his torn hand to the wounds accrued in the subway. She couldn't do anything for his ribs but he swore they were feeling better. They were sipping coffee from a thermos. It was cold but welcome in his empty stomach.

The foreman came back to the truck with his buddies. "We decided to cut the day short and congratulate ourselves on being heroes."

"We appreciate it." Erika rose to shake his hand. "I don't know what we would have done without your help."

"Yeah." One man snorted. "Weekend starts tonight. We wouldn't have been back until Monday." Then he eyed the comely woman before him. "Name's Roger."

"Well, thank you Roger." Erika shook his hand lightly. "Come on boys. In the truck. Where are we coming out?"

"Windfall." The foreman guided Erika away from the leering Roger. "Where most of us live. Some of the guys commute out from the city. That's what we're doing down here. The big money wants faster ways to get from city to them fancy houses they keep north of Windfall... so they got us building a subway clear out to the middle of nowhere. Probably gonna build up Windfall until they think of a more clever name to call it. Probably dedicate it to one of them old blue blood presidents." He opened the extended cab for the trio. "Hop in. We'll take you up top and to a phone. We'll even drive you where you gotta go before we party. Pretty lady like you needs more escort than two little boys with all this terrorist crap on the news."

"Well, thank you." Erika nodded to the older gentleman. He probably had a daughter her age.

"Roger, Newton, Jimmy! You're riding on the rig."

The trio grumbled but it made her grin. The foreman must have seen them checking her out or something to shout at them the way he had. "Thanks again."

"Not a problem. Name's Morris. Not everyday I haul pretty ladies out of the sewers." Foreman Morris shut the door behind her. "Fellas! Let's haul it up."

Another older fellow took the wheel so Morris could call in the change of plans to the office. Erika insisted on holding Rik like a baby and he was too tired to protest. He was feeling better but he still hurt. "Mom..."

"Yeah?" She brushed his hair out of his face.

"We're close, aren't we?"

"I think we are."

"That boy doing alright, ma'am." Morris called into the back.

"I think he's doing fine." She smiled at her son. "He took a fall and I cleaned up alright, I think."

"That's good. Can't say we get much use out of these kits these days... what with those new scanners they got at the office now to weed out the hurting before they get down here. Company won't spring for boots and hard hats but they'll buy that piece of crap to make sure we don't get hurt on the job. Accidents still happen but if your ankle is on the verge of a sprain, they'll make you go to a doc to get it braced and to rehab to work it out. By the time they let you back in the tunnel, there ain't nothing wrong with you and you work just fine."

"Sons of bitches." The driver muttered. "In my day, we didn't have none of that. You got hurt, you got hurt and if it was on the job, the boss was only too happy to shell out for the doc's bill and paid time off. Hell, in my day, people died on the job and the widow got a check to compensate for the loss of her man."

"Shut your mouth about your day." Morris grunted. "And watch your mouth, we got a purty lady in our truck now."

--

Windfall proper turned out to be little more than the tunnel where they emerged, a grocery store ran by a sweet Indian couple that passed a bag of oranges to Morris when the truck slowed, a gas station run by a fellow of indeterminate origin who eyed everyone as if they were going to jump out at him in the dark, a dollar store and a restaurant barely big enough to hold the crew and the trio. A row of stools ran along a side of the building under a counter where the waitress slipped the plates from the window. It suggested it was barely more than a pit-stop for most of its customers, hence the limited sitting inside.

Rik plopped himself down at a table and watched Darin grimace as he sat. The kid had just spent countless hours in a sewer but he was still too good to sit in a greasy spoon. "Where's the address?"

"Um..." Darin pulled out the card. "Near here... I think. I've heard of Windfall but I'm not sure¡¦ This is just a country road address. No town..."

"I thought you said you knew where it was." Rik grumbled when his mother shot him a look.

"I just knew it wasn't inside the city." He sighed. "We drive through here but this... is not what I think of when I think Windfall." He felt bad for treating his father so bad the last few months. His father would know where the address was. "Maybe we should ask someone from around here."

The waitress had set a stack of menus on the table with a pitcher of water and a few glasses before disappearing out a door when they had first entered and no one had seen her since. Erika wrinkled her nose at the stench of fried everything on the menus but picked one up to look it over. "Let's just eat something, guys. Once we've got some food in our stomachs, we'll worry about finding the son of a bitch that got us into this mess." She shot a look to Darin. "Pardon my language. I meant your father."

Rik was too impatient to just sit and wait so he called another waitress over. "Hey you, know you where this is?"

She glanced at her tables, the order rack and then at the face of the young man asking. One day in the not-distant past, a boy like him would have called her 'sugar' or 'sweetheart', maybe even 'darlin''. This was evidence she was getting older, this young stud had called her 'hey you' and that stung a little... at least he didn't call her 'ma'am' because everyone knew that was the kiss of death. Finally, looking at the card she shook her head. "That's not my neighborhood. Your waitress lives out that way."

"I'll go ask her." Darin shot out of his chair and went out the door the waitress had taken before anyone could protest.

The other waitress just shook her head and headed to the windows to deliver the hungry men their food. Erika sighed. Impulsiveness, another Zan trait. Meticulousness, addiction, stoicism... what else had these boys been passed down by their father. Her two boys were quite the pair, alike and so different... That was strange. Her acceptance of the situation. When she found Zan, she was going to wring his neck. Looking to Rik, she sighed again and he rolled his eyes before reluctantly getting up to find the boy.

Rik found a group of the guys smoking outside under an overhang and bummed a cigarette off one of them. It had begun raining while they stopped but it looked like it was letting up already. The sky looked a bored sort of white. "Any of you seen my brother?"

"Nope." Came the reply from the nearest man.

"He came out here lookin' for the waitress... you know... the one with the body." Rik nodded when they all laughed appreciatively.

"Cam. Now, we saw her... and Rogers." One of them snickered. "They'll be back in about 15."

"Five tops." Another snickered. "Rogers ain't got much for stamina."

"How is Roger's old ex?" The first snorted.

"She's happy... now that she's got a real man."

Rik tuned them out and scanned the surrounding trees for the runt. Then he spotted him. Red-faced by the port-a-potty. Dragging on his cigarette, he casually made his way over. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Darin nodded but didn't look up.

"Find her?"

"Kind of." He flushed red anew and stared at the tree line directly in front of him.

Rik stifled a laugh and offered his cigarette which, surprisingly, the boy took. Darin put the filtered end in his mouth and sucked. The smoke shot down his throat. He nearly coughed up a lung and handed it back. Rik really felt bad for the boy. Obviously he had gotten the edited version of the birds and the bees... and what a time to be confronted by the rutting truth of it all. "Saw a lil more than you bargained for, lil man?"

"You could say that." Darin nodded and coughed again. That hurt, how could people do that intentionally?

Dragging on the cigarette, he nodded to the crew, who nodded and turned to each other to laugh about it. Yeah, they had seen Darin out there, they had probably told the kid exactly where to find the waitress. "A'least you didn't catch your parents doin' it. That's traumatizin'." Darin didn't look up. "The first time I got any clue what that was all 'bout, it was walkin' in on my mom and one of her boyfriends. We had to lay down some ground rules. Like... if she's gonna bring a date home, I can't be in the house or.. when she's not gonna come home, she has to call. Same rules apply to me... in theory 'cause I promised I'd hit college before I made her a grandma."

"So you've... never...?" Darin crossed his arms and lowered his eyes when the waitress and Rogers made their way back to the diner. "Ever?"

"Now, I wouldn't say that but..." Rik stared off into the trees. "I don't feel like braggin' about it."

"Dari?"

"Somethin' like that." Rik offered the cigarette once more but this time Darin shook his head. "Good. Don't need to get you hooked on these either." Finishing it off, he nodded back to the restaurant. "Come on. Let's get somethin' to eat."

Just then the waitress emerged from somewhere behind the port-a-potty and ignored the looks from the crew as she resumed her work day. When Rogers walked out, the guys started paying money to their ring leader. Rik grunted and shook his head. Some kind of small town.

Darin had felt all kinds of wrong since the beginning of the semester and he felt all kinds of young around everyone at school. He didn't need this. The work crew had done it on purpose and it wasn't funny. He was a special brand of geek and those guys didn't get girls. They went to school and got good grades, got into good schools, got good jobs and made connections that made sense. Somewhere along the way the right person would come along... but that was a long ways off. For the interim, he was an eighth grader posing as a sophomore in a fancy prep school.

When they got back to the table, the waitress was outlining to Erika how to get to what was apparently a bed and breakfast. Darin blushed as he took his seat and picked at his cooling food. Rik winked at the waitress and she winked back. Bad sign. Rik nudged Darin and the boy flushed brighter. When she went away, Erika stared at the two of them. "What took you so long?"

"Nothing. He got stuck in the port-a-potty." Rik shook his head.

Erika leaned forward and narrowed her eyes before she sniffed them. "You've been smoking."

--

The walk was long. The crew had gotten called back in, ruining their celebration and their lunch. Erika had told them to go on, they could find their own way. Big mistake. The day had quickly turned dark and the road barely traversable. Drizzle met them at what they estimated to be midway. Fog holed them up in a grove of trees for the remainder of the afternoon. Huddled together, they dozed as they waited it out.

Rik was the first to wake as the stars peeked out from behind the white clouds. He could make out lights in the distance. It was maybe a mile. He could check it out and make it back without anyone knowing he was gone. There were three buildings when he got close enough to see. One was set apart from the others, on higher ground. Deciding that's the one he wanted, the climbed the hill, ribs aching, feet sore. It didn't matter because he was on the high of exploration. Sitting on the raised root of a tree, he rested as he tried to determine his next plan of action. He was about to take off his shoes when he heard a voice, a fairly loud voice.

"Hey, you remember that time in Texas when Maria got shot?" There was a pause. "Okay, I know you remember but I meant before that. Remember we were having fun?"

"Maybe." A gruff voice answered. "Maria getting shot kind of ruined the fun for me."

Rik could hear the voices but it was so dark out he couldn't see where they were coming from. Sitting absolutely still, he waited until his eyes adjusted to the shape and size of the house before him.

"You should cut those things out."

"I should."

Rik made out a porch and the silhouette of man sitting on the railing, leaning on a post, legs akimbo, smoking a cigarette. His heart sped up. Images rushed into his mind. [Winking at the little boy, he blew his smoke out the window. He sat on the sill one leg in and one leg out but both feet resting on the sill. "Heya lil chief. How the pampers hangin'? Cool? And the puppet peeps on TV? Yeah, I always said TV's overrated. See this thing?" He held up his burning cigarette. "I eva catch you wit one in your mouth, I'ma slap my genes right outta ya? Understand?"

"You would not." His mother's voice came wearily from the couch.

"I would too." He slouched even further on the sill.

"You couldn't raise a hand to him if he ruined your favorite pair of jeans." She laughed. "You're all talk, Zan. Nothin' but a big softy."

"Am not." Zan fixed his gaze on his son. "I'll get back to you on this when we's alone. Aight? She don't know what she's talkin' 'bout."]

"Seriously, cut that shit out."

"Too late. I think I'm addicted." That voice. "If she can't get me to quit, neither can you."

"Aren't you supposed to have some kind of strength of character and mind. Isn't that why you're the big shot and I'm just the back up?"

"Since when is your title 'back up'."

Strange silence stretched between them before the other one spoke from the chair Rik could just make out on the other side of the railing. "How much longer you want to wait?"

"Last I heard anything... Kal was going to make sure it was him. Now there's all this terrorist shit on the news. Who knows?" He sighed and drew on the cigarette. "I'm getting worried though. It's been... almost 15 years since I last held him in my arms... what if he decides not to come?"

"He'll come."

"How do I know? What if we're just sitting ducks here?"

Rik couldn't resist. Bad sense of humor and uneasiness just snowballed. "You kinda are, you know. I've been sittin' here a while. Anyone could've snuck up on the two of you for all you were payin' attention."

A light flipped on, nearly blinding Rik and illuminating the two men sitting on the porch. The one smoking, dropped his cigarette and near slithered to the ground. He approached slowly but Rik couldn't make out his face because the light was too bright and the shadows were fierce over his face. "It's you."

The arms that enveloped him were strong and for a moment, Rik allowed it. Then he pushed him away to look at him. Longish hair that fell in his face, some of it graying. Stubble shadowed his face and sorrow lived in his amber eyes just like his mother had said. It was too much, too soon. Playing it cool, Rik took the pack of cigarettes from his father's shirt pocket and helped himself to one. He saw the look in his eyes when he lit up. He wanted to tell him not to do that but he didn't have any right. Not anymore. Rik wanted so much to say 'go ahead and slap your genes outta me' but the words wouldn't form. "You got some nerve, you know? After all this time just¡¦ askin' for your family back."

"What happened to you?" He seemed to ignore the angry words and focus on the myriad of cuts and bruises on Rik's arms and face.

"Fell down a stairwell." Rik stiffened when the fingers brushed the tender places. "Couldn't be helped, we were gettin' shot at."

"Shot at?" Fear crossed the eyes and then anger. So many emotions in those eyes made Rik shiver. "Get that son of a bitch on the phone, Michael." The eyes flicked to the other man, who pulled a phone out of his pocket immediately. Then the eyes softened when they returned to the young man in front of him. Suddenly the fingers were warm as they brushed the cuts and bruises. "You're taller than I thought you'd be... I wasn't this tall when I was 15."

"I'm 17." Rik bit out.

"I... I don't know what to call you." He seemed to ignore most of what spilled out of the young man's mouth.

"These days, it's Rik." Rik admitted in a softer tone. "No one much calls me Ronald anymore... 'cept Mom when she's mad."

"Rick. Okay." He watched the man swallow as he nodded.

Rik saw that the man was about to cry... and all from staring at him. Drawing on his cigarette, he had no clue what to do... or what to ask. He should have waited until they had woken. "Look... I... don't mean to break the moment or whatever but I hope you have car or somethin'. My feet are killin' me and I left Mom and the kid back thataway."

"You brought your family?" The crying eyes quickly dried and turned worried.

"Kal. The second he saw lil runt, says to bring him with and you know Mom ain't just gon let me go off without her."

"Little... what? Kal said what?"

"Look. Dad. Zan. Whatever. I gotta go get 'em and I'd rather have somethin' warm and dry for them cause we been walkin' most of the day in the rain and fog and all that shit."

"Max... my name is Max." He stated and then motioned for him to follow. "We'll go get them."

"Hey, um... you got some food? Somethin' warm?" Rik stopped him.

"You hungry?"

"Yeah but it's not for me. Darin ain't eat much in town when we stopped and he needs somethin'... he ain't used to doin' without and these last few days been hard on the lil runt."

Max nodded. "Just wait a minute, I'll see what I can find. Michael, get that bastard on the phone now."

"I'm trying. There's no answer." Michael bit out and punched the number again. Rick sat on the porch while this Michael guy cursed at his cell phone. It was a few minutes before Max reemerged with a thermos and foil wrapped package. He strode out of the house and suddenly swayed. Michael rushed forward to steady him. "You stupid son of a bitch." He looked to Rik then back to Max. "You're going to kill yourself, you know that right?"

"Let's just go, Michael." Max shook his head. "I'm fine." He pointed to Rik. "Car's that way."

Michael took the wheel and Max took the passenger seat, leaving Rik to the back seat to direct as best he could. "How'd Kal find you, kid?"

"I don't know. All I know is sometime a few days ago, I was sent to the office cause I got in a fight with the lil punk and while the folks were talkin' to the dean... that Kal guy comes in. He walks right over to me and shakes his head. Makes me look at him and tells me how much I look like my old man. Like I ain't heard enough of that from my mom. He tells me some shit is goin' down. Be good to get myself out of there and where I could be safe. He sees the runt and curses your name and says take the kid with me when I go. Then the big guns show up."

Max turned when Rik went silent. "What?"

"What are we?" Rik met his eyes. "What Kal did... what Darin did... what I did... it's not normal and it saved our lives."

Max turned to Michael, who looked back. "Kid, who's Darin?"

"You don't know Darin?" Rik bit out. "You remember me but you don't remember Darin?" Oh, yeah. Dear old dad was a gem.

Michael stared at Max for a long time. "I don't know. Michael. I don't know. I've been drained this past week but... You say you did things?"

"Spontaneous healin' I guess. I didn't even know it had happened 'til it was done. It ain't happen again. Then... I knocked down evr'one within a block of us. Down on the ground, unable to breathe for a few seconds. I don't know how but it ain't ever happen before... or since."

"When was this?"

"I dunno. A few days ago." Rik pointed. "Up there. The trees are a ways off the road." He was out of the car before they could stop him. Darin looked ready to run when he crashed into the grove. "Come on. I got us a ride."

The trio marched back out to the rode. Erika pushed herself ahead of them. There he was. She'd know him anywhere and everywhere. She had punched him before she realized she had moved. When he recovered, she couldn't stop herself from kissing him hard. Tasting his lips, his mouth... Stunned, she pushed away. He looked shocked and scared and confused... and that only confirmed what she had felt when she kissed him.

"That's some effect you have on women." The other man, Michael, grunted.

"You're not him." Erika whispered as she stared at the face and the eyes and... it had to be him. "Not Zan?"

Max shook his head. His head was reeling. What did this mean? The woman who adopted his son had had a relationship with Zan? "Rick..."

"She's got a mean left hook, huh." Rik was already pulling the other boy to his feet and into the car. "Where's that thermos?"

"Is that him?" Darin peered over Rik's shoulder.

"I guess so."

"Your mom is pissed."

"I guess so." Rik nodded.

"You knew Zan?" Max whispered. He got the feeling that she didn't want him talking too loud and so he went with it.

"Kal told us that Zan sent for us." Erika wiped her mouth roughly, she needed the taste of this strange man off her lips.

"Did he say that?" Max prodded.

"No... I guess not." Erika thought it over. "He just kept saying 'their father'."

"Their father?" Max turned to the car. "You mean... those are Zan's kids?"

"Yeah."

"Holy shit." Michael kicked a clod of dirt into the trees. "Then where the hell's your kid?"

Max took a breath. "Let's just get back to the house."

"You really want to take them to the house before we know what's going on? You know the second we drive up, they're going to want to see and to know and we don't know anything."

--

The drive was strained. Rik kept looking at his mother but she was staring out the window. "When do we get answers?"

"We may not." Erika whispered, her voice heavy with tears.

"Why don't the three of you try to get some rest." Michael cut in. "When we get to the house we've got extra beds. We're good for the moment. You can sleep all you want. Seems like you've had a rough week."

"To say the least." Erika bit out.

Darin sipped the tea and nibbled the bread but exhaustion was taking over. Passing remnants to Rik, he quickly fell asleep. Downing the remainder of the warm tea and shoving the small piece of bread into his mouth, he relaxed and wrapped his arm around his mother so she would be cushioned as she dozed. He shut his eyes but couldn't sleep now. He had seen the words exchanged between his mother and this man but it couldn't have been good whatever it was.

"Kid's too old... both of them if they're in high school." Michael gently told Max.

"I realize that... but.. they thought we were six when they picked us up. We always felt older than everyone else."

"Maybe we just mature faster but... the kid, the birth certificate. More or less accurate?"

"Yeah. That's true."

Michael turned slightly to look into the backseat. "Do you think she knows about these three?"

"No... she would have told us." Max shook his head. "She's been really good about telling us the truth about him. She didn't have a clue. I'll talk to their mother tomorrow. Get what I can from her."

"You think he knew about the little one?"

"Didn't even think about it? He is kind of young... he probably never met Zan."

Rik furrowed his brow and opened his eyes. What the hell were they talking about?

TBC