Laura Jo Phillips (13 page)

Ellicia, Bobby and Harlan were in the training room, working on Ellicia’s knife throwing skills.  She wasn’t very good at it, and was becoming more and more frustrated as the afternoon wore on. 

“I prefer a hand laser,” she said irritably when her last five knives missed the target completely.  She was getting worse, not better.

“Of course you do,” Harlan said patiently.  “You’re very good with that weapon.  But it never hurts to be familiar with more than one type of weapon.  It’s a lot easier to conceal a knife than a laser, particularly these new micro-polymer ones.  If your gun gets taken from you, they might assume that’s all you have and miss the knives.”

“All right, all right,” Ellicia replied as she walked up the lane to retrieve her practice knives.  Her vox beeped in her ear and she paused to answer it.

“Yes?” she said.  A moment later she turned around and hurried back up the lane, still listening to the Director as she grabbed her pack from its place in the corner and began rummaging through it. 

“What’s the number?” she asked as she pulled a cloth bag out of the pack and carried it over to the counter that ran along the back of the room.  “All right, I’ll get back to you in a few minutes.” 

She tapped the vox to disconnect the call and opened the bag, spilling dozens of small metal tags onto the counter.  She began sorting through the tags, checking the numbers on each one before setting it aside.  When she found the one she wanted she smiled triumphantly.  She scooped the rest of the tags back into the bag and sat down on the floor right where she was.  She closed her eyes, holding the tag tightly in her closed fist.  Before long she smiled again and opened her eyes. 

“Got it,” she said to Bobby, who grinned and held out a hand to help her up from the floor.

“Good girl,” he said.  “What way are we going?”

“We don’t have to go anywhere,” Ellicia said.  “I got a location on this one.”

“Excellent!” Bobby praised her as she stood up.  She tapped the vox and requested the Director.  A few minutes later she disconnected the call.

“He has a unit not far from the location right now so it won’t be long,” Ellicia said, sharing another grin with Bobby.

Harlan was beginning to look a little disgruntled.  “Either of you want to fill me in on what just happened here?” he asked.

Ellicia turned to him in surprise, then turned pink with embarrassment.  “I’m sorry Harlan,” she said.  “I didn’t mean to be rude.”

Harlan shrugged.  “No problem, but would you mind filling me in?”

“Of course not,” Ellicia replied.  “As you know, my talent is finding things, but I have to have some connection to the object before I can find it.  The problem is that if someone steals a shipment of drugs, or military weapons, there is no way for me to connect because those are manufactured goods.  So, we came up with this idea.  A number of tin tags are made, each one stamped twice with a number.  They are then left alone for about three weeks, which, after a lot of testing, we have found to be just long enough.  Then the tags are broken in half.  I get one half, and the other half goes into certain types of shipments.  It’s all very top secret of course, and only a few government affiliated companies use them so far, but it works.  The Director just called with the number of a tag placed into a shipment of narcotics that was just stolen on the way to a hospital.  I was able to find the shipment containing the tag by holding my half of the tag.”

“That’s brilliant,” Harman said, impressed with the simplicity of the scheme.  “Who thought of that?”

“Ellicia, of course,” Bobby said proudly.  “She was frustrated that she wasn't able to do more with her talent than help private collectors or museums when their things got stolen.  She wanted to help with more important thefts.”

Ellicia blushed again, but she ignored it as she returned the tag to the bag, and put the bag back in her pack.  “I just wanted to be able to help more,” she said.  “A lot of museums and libraries were destroyed in the Bolkin War, so the artifacts that remain of our history are important.  But I wanted to be able to do more than that.  Now I can.”

“I gotta run, Ell,” Bobby said with a quick glance at his watch.  “I’m going to be late for Jen’s party as it is.”

“Sorry Bobby, I lost track of the time,” Ellicia said.  “Tell Jen Happy Birthday for me, okay?”

“I will,” Bobby said before grabbing up his own pack and heading for the door.

“Jen?” Harlan asked.

“His wife,” Ellicia replied.

“They’re having a party and didn’t invite you?” he asked.

“Of course they invited me,” Ellicia replied a little defensively.  “Jen’s a good friend of mine.  I just don’t like parties.”

“You don’t like parties,” Harlan repeated.  “Who doesn’t like parties?”

“Me,” Ellicia replied as she began packing up her gear.  “I don’t like the noise, I don’t like being around people who are inebriated, I don’t like being in crowds and I don’t like making small talk with people I don’t know.  I sent Jen a gift, and she knows I love her.  She isn’t offended that I don’t attend her party so I’m not sure why you should be.”

“I’m not offended,” Harlan said.  “Just curious is all.  You leaving now?”

“Yes,” Ellicia replied as she finished closing her bag.

“In that case, how would you like to have dinner with me?” Harlan asked.

Ellicia froze, her heart skipping a beat in either fear or excitement, she wasn’t sure which.  This was not the first time Harlan had asked her out.  It wasn’t the second either.  It was the ninth.  She remembered every single invitation.  And she’d turned him down every single time.

“Don’t you ever give up?” she asked. 

“No, I don’t,” Harlan replied.  “Are you going to turn me down again, or do you want to have dinner with me?”

Ellicia wanted to go out with him.  In truth, she hadn’t been out on a date in so long she’d declined the first time out of habit more than anything else.  After that, she’d been scared to say yes.  Scared of her feelings for this man that was suddenly and unavoidably a big part of her life now.  But this time, she wanted to say yes.

“Um, well, um,” she stuttered, suddenly feeling uncertain of herself.  She shut her mouth and swallowed.  She sounded like a ninny.  Maybe she should just say no again.  That would be easiest. 

“Yes,” she said. 

“Wonderful,” Harlan said with a smile.  “What kind of food do you like?”

“Regular food,” Ellicia said.  “Nothing weird.”

“Weird?” Harlan asked as he slung his own bag over his shoulder and opened the door.  “What do you mean by weird?”

“I don’t want to eat anything that ever had more than four legs, or two eyes, or that didn’t grow right here on Earth,” Ellicia replied, stepping out of the training room and into the hall.  Harlan pulled the door shut and they walked down the hall together. 

“I guess that leaves out Terien blood fruit and...”

“Don’t even say it,” Ellicia warned.  “I swear if you do, I will lose my appetite altogether.”

Harlan laughed.  “All right then, how about we go down to Eddie’s Place?  They have a big menu, the food is good, the atmosphere is relaxed and the music is background only.”

“That sounds perfect,” Ellicia replied with a smile.  She glanced down at her training outfit of jeans, sweater and boots, wishing this were a regular work day.  She usually dressed much nicer than this for work, except on training days when she spent a lot of time on the shooting range and in the gym.  Training days were jeans, pony tail and no make-up days.  She frowned doubtfully at Harlan.  “Should I dress up a bit?  I don’t have anything nice here, but I could run home.”

“Nope, you are perfect just as you are,” Harlan replied easily as they stopped in front of the locker room doors.  “See you in a few,” he said as he entered the Men’s while Ellicia went into the Women’s. 

Ellicia went straight to her locker where she paused just long enough to cram her practice bag in and slam the door shut on it.  Then she hurried to the long line of sinks against one wall, grimacing at her reflection.  She yanked open the large tote bag that she used as a purse and dug around for a brush and her make-up bag.  She came across a lipstick that she had forgotten she even owned in the bottom of the bag and set that on the counter as she continued searching for the other items.  Finally she found a comb, but realized she must have left the make-up bag at home.  Well, the comb and lipstick would have to do, she decided. 

She pulled out the elastic band holding her hair back in a pony tail and began yanking the comb through her shoulder length locks, cursing the unruly curls as she tried to force them into some semblance of order.  After a few minutes she gave up and put it back in a pony tail.  At least it looked a little neater now.  She washed her hands and face, then picked up the lipstick and applied it.  She grimaced at her reflection again.  The color was too bright for her, which explained why it had been loose and forgotten on the bottom of her bag.  She grabbed a handful of paper towels and scrubbed the lipstick off.  Either the lipstick had stained her lips, or rubbing them so hard had made them red.  She scowled at her reflection, then sighed.  A lipstick and a comb weren’t going to change anything.

She picked up her bag, tossed the lipstick into the trash and turned toward the door.  If Harlan wanted her to look polished, he was going to have to ask her out a bit more ahead of time.  

She pushed through the locker room door with a little more force than necessary, feeling angry at herself for worrying so much about how she looked because of a man.  When she dressed up, she did it for herself, not because she wanted to attract attention.  But as soon as she saw Harlan standing in the hall waiting for her, her anger fled.  She noticed that he had wet his hair, and then combed it in an effort to tame the little tufts that seemed to stick up all over, and he’d changed his shirt.  She no longer felt foolish for wanting to look a little nicer for him.  Evidently, it was a mutual feeling, and that seemed to make it okay.

A couple of hours later after a long, leisurely dinner and a long, comfortable conversation, Ellicia realized she was having the nicest time of her life.  She really enjoyed Harlan’s company.  He made her laugh, made her think, and somehow, he seemed to understand her in a way nobody else ever did.  And he barely knew her.

“Tell me something about yourself that nobody else knows,” Harlan said as they sat sipping hot coffee spiked with chocolate liqueur after their meal.

“Like what?” Ellicia asked.

“Your deepest, darkest secret,” he suggested.

“No,” Ellicia replied.  “I’m not ready to go quite that far yet.”

“I would never share anything you told me,” Harlan assured her. 

Ellicia smiled.  “If I thought you would, I wouldn’t even be here with you.  I’m just not ready to reveal my deepest secret yet.  But I will tell you a secret if you tell me one first.”

“All right,” Harlan agreed.  “I have a little psychic power myself.”

“Really?” Ellicia asked, surprised.  “What is it?”

“Watch the candle,” Harlan said.  He shifted his gaze to the candle that flickered brightly in a small glass bowl in the center of their table.  He stared at it for a few seconds until, for no apparent reason, it went out.  Harlan smiled, glanced at Ellicia then back to the candle again.  A few seconds later, the candle seemed to relight itself.

“That’s fantastic,” Ellicia said.  “Can you do bigger things?  Like put out a house fire?” 

Harlan laughed.  “I’m afraid not,” he said.  “That would take a lot more power than I have.  Lighting a candle is about the extent of it.  Although, when I was a kid I used it more than once to give a mysterious case of hot foot to the occasional bully.”

Ellicia laughed.  “I’ll remember that the next time my feet get cold.”

“Your turn,” Harlan said.

“Okay,” Ellicia said, suddenly feeling a little nervous.  She wasn’t sure this was a good idea, but a deal was a deal.  “I am deathly afraid of water.”

Harlan frowned.  “Why is that such a big secret?”

“I don’t know, it seems sort of childish to me,” Ellicia replied.  “I’m an adult.  I shouldn’t be afraid of something as natural as water.”

“I don’t agree,” Harlan said.  “Most people are afraid of one thing or another, whether they admit it or not.  It’s not childish.  Its human nature.  And it’s not a big deal.  Just don’t go swimming or take an ocean cruise.”

 “Or go to Marrazo,” Ellicia added with a delicate shudder.