Just Another Job (30 page)

The video ended. Chris couldn't help but
comment. “I totally won that war.”

“You guys were so cute,” said Sadie. “I mean
Gerry and Louise were so cute.”

“Wow, superhero reality show. I should've
seen all of this coming.”

“Yeah Mr. Smarty Pants. It doesn't matter if
you saw it coming or not; it's here.” Sadie continued to swipe
through the years of their recorded family history while Chris
leaned over her shoulder watching and thinking.

Chapter
Twenty-Two

A horn honked and echoed against Chris's house at
seven sharp. Then a moment later the door opened. The horn combined
with the creaking door jolted Chris’s heart. He jumped out of bed,
grabbed the baseball bat from the corner, and rushed down the
hall.

It was only Gerry half-awake shuffling
towards his room. Holy shit, Chris thought then said, “Morning
son.”

Gerry put his hand up in greeting and went
straight to his room to crash in his bed to make up for what little
sleep he always managed to get when spending the night at
Simone's.

Chris settled himself down, but Frank
decided another blast from his truck's horn was due at that same
moment and this truly shook the webs of sleep out of Chris’s head.
He moved quickly back to his bedroom where Sadie had pulled the
other pillow on top of her head to drown out the noise. Chris
grabbed his phone and typed as fast as he could 'I'm coming. Shut
it up.'

In five minutes Chris was dressed and out
the door. The van was still across the street. He jumped in Frank's
truck and they took off. As soon as Frank turned the corner a
familiar car pulled out behind them to follow.

Chris pointed to the rearview mirror. “He
tailed me home last night. And the van totally ruined my chances
with Sadie.”

Frank laughed. “Gail and I still went nuts
on each other. Who gives a shit? If they wanted to see my ass so
bad let 'em. I can’t believe Erik’s such an asshole that he uses
the same vans to spy on us.”

“You ready for today?”

“Sure. Let's just go in and say 'Fuck you
Erik, we got all the evidence we need to blackmail your sorry ass.
We quit.' Then walk out or run out depending on how pissed he
gets.”

“Well you can do the talking, but I have a
better plan.”

“Whatever you think might work... I don't
know. We gotta bluff him or something.”

“Bluffing’s part of it but we need something
more if he calls us on it. And I can’t have Gerry or other little
boys running around thinking this is real. Follow my lead on this.”
Chris looked at Frank for a sign of agreement. “I have to do
it.”

“Fuck it. I’ll follow your lead. But it
better go fast. I hate waiting for shit like this.”

They pulled into the parking lot and Frank
found the first available spot towards the back. They slammed their
doors and moved quickly down the black pavement.

“Oh shit, what are we going to do about your
car? I forgot about the fuel pump,” said Frank.

“I’m just going to bite the bullet and get
it towed.”

Frank went inside and stopped. Chris moved
in front to take the lead. He walked quickly and down a hall to the
lounge area.

“Why aren’t we going to Erik’s office?”
asked Frank.

“We need Johnykin first. Trust me,” said
Chris. He peeked his head in the room but it was empty so they
moved on.

The Fun Room was next and inside Johnykin
ran on a treadmill at a very normal pace. No more pretenses thought
Chris. She saw them come in and smiled politely but didn’t say
anything. Chris grabbed a towel and water for Johnykin and came up
to the side of the treadmill. He shut it off and handed her
both.

“Uh, thanks Chris, but I can tell when my
workout is over on my own,” said Johnykin.

“Talk with me in the locker room. Frank’s
coming too,” said Chris.

“What?!” said Johnykin. She toweled off and
took a drink.

“Now. Please,” said Chris.

Johnykin frowned and looked at Frank for
answers. He gave her a blank face. She knew somewhat where this was
going, but wanted to hear it first before committing.

“You know why,” said Chris. He gently
grabbed her hand and headed for the women’s locker room. Frank was
a step behind.

Inside the locker room, Johnykin let go of
Chris’s hand and bobbed on her feet while smiling deviously to hide
her nervousness. “This better not be a fantasy of yours we’re
playing out.”

“Who has access to the video of the Supers?”
asked Chris. “The unedited versions.”

“Why?” Johnykin waited for an answer but
Chris waited for his and won out. “Umm, Art maybe. He does the
special effects. Or Alex, he’s the editor. He puts it on the
internet and everything.”

“Okay. Frank you’ll come with me. We’ll
check with Alex first. I doubt Art has what we need. Johnykin, go
to Walt and get the Super suits.”

“Stop Chris! I’m not going to do anything if
you don’t tell me why. Even then I don’t know if I’ll go along with
it.”

“We’re quitting.”

“You’re quitting?” Johnykin pushed out a
loud short laugh. “You just assume I’ll come along with you. I told
you Erik will practically kill us – or really kill us. I don’t
know.”

“I have a plan. We build up this evidence
and threaten to leak it, but we need to do this now before he
figures it out and destroys it or just makes it impossible for us
to obtain. I can’t leave you here either. I’m not going to kick
your ass like I did Frank’s, but I can’t leave you behind.”

Johnykin looked up and away from Chris and
swiped the bottom of her eye before replying. “How is this a
threat? Who are you going to leak this to that will believe or just
go along with it? This isn’t a plan; it’s a stupid reaction that’s
only going to end in more trouble for us.”

Johnykin’s words echoed in the locker room
and in Chris’s head. But it didn’t have much time to stick. A
clattering of equipment coming from the Fun Room put them on alert.
Then a sardonically loud and deep voice called out, “Johnykin!
Chris, Frank!” It was Erik.

“Hang out here. I'll get rid of him. He
probably knows you're here, but at least I can give you time to
sneak off and talk to Alex,” said Johnykin. She pushed through the
door while holding up the towel to give off a casual
impression.

Chris and Frank slunk near the door to eaves
drop.

“Hey Super J,” said Erik. His obnoxious tone
drifted clearly through the door. He was putting on a show whether
he knew Chris and Frank were there or not.

“What do you want Erik?” asked Johnykin. “I
need to see Carmen and then shower off.”

“Why not shower first? What do you need to
talk to her about?”

“Girl stuff. You know...”

“I don’t know. Tell me.” The corners of
Erik’s mouth curled up in a similarly devious smile as Johnykin’s
had in the locker room but with a horrible creepiness behind
it.

Johnykin pushed Erik aside. He looked
towards the locker room, but shifted quickly to follow her. She
walked as fast as she could to force Erik’s short legs into a small
jog to keep up. His normally smooth speech stuttered under the
exercise Johnykin forced with her stride, but it didn’t stop Erik
from berating her with questions.

Chris had his ear against the locker room
door and wanted to wait a bit longer before heading out, but Frank
didn’t have the patience and pushed the door open throwing Chris
off balance.

“I know where Alex likes to hide,” said
Frank, and went for the exit of the Fun Room without looking back
at Chris.

Chris caught up to Frank and quickly
whispered, “Let me talk to him. You’ll intimidate him and he’ll
shut down.”

“Or he’ll give us what we want,” said Frank.
His eyes stared ahead.

Chris left it. He had put Frank on the path
of a mission and little would stand in the way of the wrecking ball
mentality Frank brought. Chris would intervene when more finesse
was needed but he couldn’t help but smile in appreciation as his
friend bought in to the plan.

They moved swiftly through the main lab and
to a door in the farthest corner that had no windows for curious
eyes to interrupt the work going on inside. Chris jumped in front
of Frank to knock on the door. Frank glared at Chris for
potentially getting in the way. Chris raised his eyebrows in reply
and Frank grabbed the door handle to rush inside, but it was
locked.

“What the hell?” said Frank. “This has to be
the only door with a lock besides Erik’s. Why would he lock
it?”

Chris raised his eyebrows again in response
and waited for an answer to his original knocking. It took an
uncomfortably long time with Frank shuffling his feet as if getting
ready to ram through the flimsy wood door that stood in the way of
his goal before Alex finally responded.

“Who is it?” asked Alex through the
door.

Before Frank could answer, “It’s Chris. And
Frank.”

“What do you want?”

“Let us in and we’ll tell you,” said Frank,
still ready to pound the door down.

Chris needed to hurry, he envisioned Alex
putting up desks and cabinets to barricade the door. “We need to
see the videos to expose Erik and the labs as a hoax.”

The door unlocked and opened just enough for
Alex to poke out his head. He eyed them suspiciously and then
glanced around to see if anyone else might be hiding behind them or
nearby. “Okay, come in.”

Chris and Frank stepped inside. Alex shut
the door behind them and locked it again. The room was dark. A
small lamp on a desk and the light from the computer monitor were
the only sources to see anything by. It was also exceptionally cold
compared to the rest of the lab or any other room Chris remembered
being in.

“Shit it’s cold in here,” said Frank stating
the obvious.

“Not really,” said Alex. He moved himself
around the pair careful not to make any contact and sat at the
computer. Without another word he clicked on folders, opened files,
and dragged others around the desktop: a picture of a full moon
with dark shadows around the edges.

“We need those videos,” said Frank.

“I heard you the first time,” said Alex,
still working diligently but without any explanation.

“We’re going to quit and use this as an
escape so Erik can’t crucify us or our families. We need the
evidence of the unedited videos,” said Chris.

“Yeah,” said Alex.

The next file he double clicked played a
video. The camera showed a man standing on a rooftop with a harness
attached to his chest that he fiddled with for a good minute. Once
he was satisfied it fit correctly he pulled two thin ropes from the
ground with clips on the ends that he attached to fittings on the
harness. He spent less time double checking these but was still
cautious. Then the camera panned to show a crew of people standing
on the roof adjacent. A set of cushioned pads were laid out in
front of the group and just behind them was a ten foot steel
lattice column with a mechanical pulley system on top.

The camera zoomed out to bring both rooftops
and its inhabitants in view. The man gave a thumbs up and the
pulley above the column started. He held the ropes attached to his
chest as the slack was eaten up by the pulley. A member of the
other rooftop crew stopped the pulley once it was tight enough to
force the man a step forward. He then shuffled toward the edge of
the rooftop where the sidewalk and hundreds of people could witness
his act. The hand of the crew member that stopped the pulley raised
high in the air as a signal. The man nodded his head and as soon as
the hand dropped he sprinted following the skinny line of rope. At
the last possible moment like a trained long jumper, he lifted into
the open space between the buildings. The pulley did its job and
turned an impossible athletic feat into a superhuman one.

The video finished with most of the crew
silently cheering on as two of them rushed to pull the harness off
the man so he could make his awaited appearance at the ledge
without any evidence to destroy the fantasy.

“The guys in New York sent that to me. They
said the practice runs didn’t look nearly as good as the final
here,” said Alex. He then leaned back in his chair waiting for a
response.

“We’re in a hurry,” said Chris. He handed
over his USB drive. “Do you have any others? That’s great but we’re
gonna need more.”

Alex laughed to himself and bit his
fingernail as he moved his eyes around the room and played with the
USB drive. “Okay. Is this good?” He opened another file to show
another video.

Chris and Frank ogled over the screen while
Alex watched their faces. This video was split in two with the left
hand showing again what they just watched while the right side
showed the action from an angle on the street, the same angle that
made its rounds on YouTube. Once it was over another split screen
of raw footage versus the finished publicly consumed product
played. This style continued on through dozens of videos of the
Supers.

Chris pulled his eyes away to look back at
Alex who was still waiting patiently for their reaction shots. Alex
smiled and laughed to himself again at what Chris knew was the look
of his jaw dropped in astonishment.

“Why’d you make this?” asked Chris.

“Holy shit, yeah,” said Frank, still
watching the video run through.

“Art helped me. He thought it would be a
good bit of insurance so we could get out when the time was right,”
said Alex. “I never thought you would start it.”

“Tell me about it,” said Frank.

Chris punched Frank in the shoulder and then
went to grab the USB drive back from Alex. Alex’s face turned more
pale than usual and cupped his hands together to keep Chris from
his goal before saying, “I know we should do this, but how do I
know for sure you’re going to make it work?”