Just Another Job (28 page)

“Uh-huh,” said Chris.

Carla gazed up at Chris the entire time. Her
wide eyes glistened and broke Chris’s heart when he looked back to
her.

“I'm sorry. I have to go,” said Chris and
walked away.

Chris didn't know where he had to go to, but
he knew Carla and Art were dead ends. The lounge might be worth
settling in to for the rest of the day. Erik would look for him
there, though. Why was he even still at the lab? He hadn't seen his
family in a week. Fuck, he still hadn’t called Sadie. Again it
seemed too late, thought Chris. Well if Erik wouldn't let him quit,
than he wasn't going to fire him for leaving early.

No one else popped up to give their
condolences or even look Chris in the eye as he made the trek
through the rest of the lab and back into the main hub. He thought
about if anyone else even knew who he was or what they were doing
in the A1 lab. So many people just sitting at their desks or
mulling around without any clue.

Almost to the door, Chris remembered the
most basic of things he needed to get out of there were his keys
still sitting in the locker in the lounge. He veered off to the new
in-between destination. Hopefully Erik wasn't there or even
Johnykin. Chris just wanted to get out as quickly as possible.

The lounge was deserted. He jogged to the
locker and pulled the keys out with barely a glance inside and then
jogged back out the door where Neal stood waiting. A smile much
like Erik's patented creepy visage stood patiently.

“Welcome back, Chris,” said Neal. His arms
were crossed behind him and when he brought them around there was a
clipboard in one.

“Not now Neal. I don't need your fake
psychobabble. I'm leaving for the day.”

“Oh it's not fake. I understand the news has
spread about the deceitful comings and goings of most of this
project, but I can assure you that I am in actuality a certified
psychologist. As such it is imperative that I speak with you about
your mental state since going through a wartime episode and of
course the shock of having the veil lifted from your eyes.”

“Again, not now,” said Chris, and jangled
his keys in support of the hurried state he was in.

Neal wrote something on the clipboard. Chris
furrowed his brow in paranoia before shaking out of it and
attempting a sidestep around this new obstacle. Still writing, Neal
made his own sidestep to counter Chris.

“What plans or new directions do you see
yourself pursuing?” asked Neal, ready to record any responses.

“Home. Now get the hell out of my way.”

Neal smiled darkly and stayed put. Chris saw
the tactic and pushed through him with a bump of their shoulders.
Write that down you bastard, Chris thought, before realizing it
wasn’t so cool upon reflection.

One week. The more Chris thought about it,
the more it infuriated him. At least no one else stopped him on the
way out. He picked up the pace once outside and jogged to his car.
What if it didn’t start? It sat here forever. Chris turned the key
in the ignition. It sputtered to life and then died before he could
put it in gear. Shit, how did he know? Chris hit his head against
the steering wheel to get away from his precognition and test out
Marty McFly’s car starting trick. He didn’t want to call Sadie to
come pick him up or get a tow truck. It would all just take more
time that he couldn’t waste anymore.

A sharp tapping on the window startled Chris
away from the comfy plastic molding pressed against his forehead.
Frank had his keys out, pointed through the glass straight at
Chris’s chest. Chris rolled down the window.

“It’s probably you’re fuel pump,” said
Frank. “They can dry out from sitting there. Come on. I’ll give you
a ride unless the same happened to my truck.”

Chris didn’t say anything, he just followed
Frank. Frank’s truck started with ease and idled as it should while
they settled in. It had been a while since Chris was last in the
passenger seat of Frank’s truck, but nothing was different. Frank
gave the engine another ten seconds to warm up and then cranked it
into gear and they were out of the parking lot in another ten.

“I told you,” said Frank. “Erik’s not to be
fucked with.”

“But it’s okay for him to fuck with us? I
can’t believe you would take that from him or anyone.”

“You’re taking it too. I knew you wouldn’t
go through with it, but I don’t blame you. He’ll get nasty and come
after everything we have.”

“I just need to see my family again. I’m
going to quit still. I… I don’t know if it’ll work, but I’m writing
down everything. Maybe if I have it and threaten him…”

“Threaten him with what? Dude, nobody is
going to believe you even if you somehow published whatever the
hell you think you have. It’s just a story and that’s all people
will treat it as. The government will deny it and you won’t change
anything. At least we have a job and can support our families.
That’s what’s important, isn’t it?”

“Yes, no.”

“I admit you’re growing balls. And I’m going
to get you back even more for sort of kicking my ass. But you never
would have even thought of doing that before all of this.”

“It’s not enough. I have to get out of this
situation. I’m grateful for what it’s given me, but I can’t keep
on.”

“It’s what you make of it. We’re providing a
service even if it’s not done the best or most honest way. It’s
still something.”

Chris didn't respond. Frank stared out into
the road before continuing, “I like what we do. I like fighting and
protecting people. You’re not the same. That’s fine. You need to do
what’s right for you.”

“Yeah it'd be nice to have more than just
your word as support,” said Chris.

“Shit would be nice. Support yourself.”

“I will.”

The conversation died there, but it wasn't a
complete failure. Chris brought up his family in lighter terms and
asked Frank about his own. Frank missed them too, he just didn't
complain about it. Simone was causing trouble at school and Gail
didn't know how to handle it. Frank said it was routine, every few
months Simone would get bored and not know what to do with himself.
It was something he used to do, Frank admitted. Chris quietly
thought it was more a reaction to Frank not being around.

Were Gerry and Louise doing the same, except
Sadie didn't bother him about it? Chris felt confident she could
handle them, but she didn't deserve to do it alone. This train of
thought led to the inevitable end with Chris imagining himself in
Klaus's body bag, leaving Sadie to raise the kids by herself. All
for a fucking fake job.

The anger and flood of possibilities
continued to swirl in Chris's head until the truck came to a stop.
Then the emotions were put on pause and syphoned downward. Chris
smiled over at Frank and decided a handshake was appropriate. Chris
wasn't sure why, but he thrust his hand at Frank who hesitated a
second before grabbing hold.

Chris slammed the truck door behind him in a
giddy spirit. He skipped up the walkway and put his weight into the
doorknob that didn't budge. It would have been too perfect for it
to be unlocked, he thought. Chris fished for his keys in his pocket
and eventually put himself over the threshold.

Unsurprisingly but no less endearing, Sadie
stood with arms across her chest glaring. She knew it was him and
could have unlocked the door. Chris even thought she might have
locked it right before he came up as a test to make sure he still
had his keys and the right to enter her home. Really, he didn't
care. Chris reached over to her as fast as he could and wrapped her
in a hug before she could turn away.

The hug was stiff with Sadie's arms still
folded in front of her but Chris held tight. He would win her over
eventually, but he wasn't prepared for how his emotions would
react. A few seconds in his chest tightened and his eyes watered.
Sadie felt the change and moved her arms away from her chest and
around her husband.

It was just a couple tears, Chris thought.
It would be over soon, but then with his wife's hands pressing and
rubbing his back it grew worse. His torso shook uncontrollably and
more tears came out. She was the one that was supposed to be
crying, not him. It kept going.

Sadie held Chris. A part of her felt it was
a show to win her over, but the longer they stood entwined the more
she felt it as sincere. She couldn't keep the anger that Chris
deserved on top in the face of his weeping, and eventually she let
her own joy at seeing him again reign. Sadie kissed Chris's head
and let a couple tears come out too.

Chris found control somewhat and pulled his
face out from Sadie's shoulder. He looked her in the eyes and
kissed her. It was salty from the tears but wonderful just the
same. The touching of their lips added to the indescribable power
of the need to be near each other. Sadie held on tight for a longer
hug and was happy. Chris felt everything important in the
embrace. 

“Did you quit yet?” asked Sadie. She finally
pulled away enough to get out the question.

Chris didn’t want to say it. He felt the
guilt worse than ever for not going through on his word. Finally he
relented, “No.”

Sadie pushed herself out of their hug
completely. She looked away from Chris and shook her head slightly
as if warming up. Chris decided to jump in front of it.

“Tomorrow. It’s happening tomorrow. I have a
plan. I needed some backup and I just have to put it together
tonight. Then we can put this stupid farce behind us,” said
Chris.

The words sounded right, but Sadie’s
reaction didn’t meet what he expected. “What do you mean farce? And
backup for what? Just quit. Go into Erik’s office or whatever and
quit.”

She didn’t know that it was all fake. He had
to explain the entire thing. Chris showed her the papers he wrote.
The ideas formed as he looked over everything with her. The dots
connected. Sadie wasn’t against Chris’s theory, but it meant little
until he went through with it. She didn’t care if it was all staged
or not, she only cared about it being over.

“What help do you need from me right now?”
asked Sadie.

“We need to type it all out. Get a digital
copy down because I know I’m not going to be able to get to the
files at the lab. Erik already cut off my computer’s access.”

“Then do it.”

“Where are the kids? I thought they would’ve
been here… To see me.”

Sadie raised her eyebrows and widened her
eyes that showed Chris this question should’ve been brought up a
long time ago.

“They’re at friends’ houses. We didn’t know
when you were coming back. Did we?”

“Sorry,” said Chris. “Did anything show up
on the news about what happened?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t want to watch and
find out anything secondhand.”

Chris picked up on the still present
hostility and moved forward. He turned on the TV. It clicked in
response and began to warm up, but instead of the last channel
watched the red screen of death appeared. Text scrolled across the
screen that the receiver had lost its signal. Chris popped open the
entertainment center and reset the receiver. A minute later and the
same red screen.

“What the hell?” said Chris. “It always
fixes itself after a reset.”

“It was fine yesterday,” said Sadie. She
checked her phone. “My Wi-Fi isn’t working.”

“No, no way!” Chris ran to the bedroom where
the modem and router sat. All the lights blinked red. He reset both
and was given the same answer. Chris knew Erik was behind it. He
must have contacted X-Tech to shut them off.

“You can still type it. You just need
another way to put it up on the internet,” said Sadie.

“I can’t believe X-Tech let him do
this.”

“You really think Erik is behind our
internet outage? X-Tech is horrible about customer service. One of
their new hires probably shut it off on his first day out. You’re
being paranoid.”

“Maybe.”

“Oh shit, get over it. If you really want to
type this, you need to do it now.” Sadie put her hands on her hips
waiting for the right response.

“Yeah. Let’s do this.”

Chris was even a little surprised at himself
for not dwelling on the situation. Sadie picked up the handwritten
notes and a pencil. She scanned and made scribbles on the margins
while Chris loaded a new Word document.

“Ready,” said Chris, and Sadie began
dictating to him slowly and clearly.

They changed positions periodically with
Sadie typing and Chris reciting what he had written. With a few
minor additions and deletions, the complete history of Chris’s time
at the labs and as a sidekick sat in front of them after three
hours. He only stopped for a second to scroll through the document
before saving to the hard drive again, just to be sure, and finally
to a flash drive.

Holding the tiny plastic memory securely in
his hand, Chris focused in on another pressing matter. “What
friends?”

“Huh?” asked Sadie.

“What friends’ houses are Gerry and Louise
staying at? I want to see them.”

Sadie crossed her arms in front of her chest
and moved her weight to the right side; her hip acted as a pointer
to the bed. A conniving smile finished the image. “Yeah? You wanna
say hi. What about me? I just spent forever helping you out with
your essay. Don’t you wanna say hi to me?”

Chris enjoyed seeing the playful offer put
forward. It made the task of quitting his job seem as minuscule as
it should have been. He leapt from the chair and tackled Sadie to
the bed. She squealed with surprise and stretched her neck out for
Chris to kiss. He made his way around her collar bone and back to
her lips; a long kiss on her lips.

Sadie smiled up as Chris pulled his mouth
away from hers to continue, but she stopped him with a swift tumble
that moved Chris on his back and her on top. She moved her hands
across his chest and dug her pelvis into his crotch. Chris brought
his hands up to her chest. He slid his fingers gently around before
Sadie grabbed them. She then kicked her leg up to move off the bed
and stood on the floor. Chris stayed still on the bed,
confused.