The Tower (48 page)

“I feel it too, Adrian,” said Cindy. “I tried talking Mr. Baker into releasing Terry into my custody, but he won’t hear a word of it, and I don’t think the Council is going to overrule him on this one.”

“How long will she have to stay down there?” I asked.

“I don’t know, Adrian. I just don’t know.”

I was visiting Terry every day just as I had promised. It wasn’t a difficult promise to keep since, without CQC lessons, my afternoons were free. Some of the guards took pity on Terry and allowed her out of her cell from time to time to visit the dojo. I quickly learned that my combat instructor was as formidable as ever on the mat. She had little trouble taking me down even with her
right
arm behind her back. I suspected that if she really wanted to, Terry could probably escape. But Terry was a Guardian, so she didn’t.

On the last day of April, my first monthly pay as an Honorary Guardian Knight was delivered in a fat envelope. There was a Guardian-controlled bank just a few blocks down the street, and I was told that future salaries would be put there for me to withdraw at my leisure.

“Wow,” I said as I opened the envelope and fingered the bills. “This is a lot of cash.”

“That’s what adults get paid to kill people,” Cindy said dryly.

I didn’t let her words bother me. It was shopping time. The very next day, I replaced almost every article of clothing in my dresser. I bought plain shirts and pants, many of them in dark colors or even black. Cindy didn’t comment. She put most of my old wardrobe into storage for Alia when she was older, and I didn’t voice my suspicion that even my sister wouldn’t want to wear some of the more dreadfully cute items Cindy had put away. Though I never wore it again, I left the sparkly rainbow T-shirt in my dresser as a souvenir.

I wanted to buy Terry something too. But my combat instructor was such a practical person that it was difficult to find her a suitable gift. She never wore jewelry or makeup, and even if she did, what use was it to her in jail? In the end, remembering how Terry had once asked Cindy to bake a control-band birthday cake for me, I decided to return the insensitive favor. I visited a novelty shop where I purchased a plastic hook to attach to her left stump, just like a pirate captain.

Terry nearly died of laughter when I passed the toy hook to her through the bars of her cell. Alia was there, and the three of us laughed so loudly that several Guardians came in to see what the commotion was about.

“You really are horrible, Adrian!” said Terry, her eyes wet with tears of mirth. “If these bars weren’t here, you’d be in very serious pain right now.”

“That’s why I didn’t want to give this to you in the dojo,” I said, still trying to catch my breath.

“I might get one of these for real someday,” said Terry, chuckling again as she held the plastic hook to her stump. “Or maybe a blade. Cindy promised she’d get me a prosthetic hand, but a tool like this would be much more useful.”

“The hook definitely suits you, Terry,” I laughed.

“You’re looking pretty good too, Adrian,” said Terry, eyeing my new clothes. “Did Cindy finally figure out that you weren’t a girl?”

“She’ll get over her disappointment someday,” I said, grinning. “Still, I’m going to have to grow my hair longer to hide my ears, so that should make her a bit happy.”

The guards let Terry out for a few rounds with me in the dojo. Terry was in too good a mood to take revenge for my novelty hook. She played with Alia and we talked until dinnertime. It was the happiest I had ever seen her. I realized that Terry really didn’t care that she was in jail. She was no longer trapped between the Angels and the Guardians. Perhaps she still couldn’t choose, but she had accepted that the choice had been made for her, and she was free.

Four days later, when I went down to the subbasement as I usually did in the afternoons, I found the holding block empty. I rushed back to 3502 and, bursting through the door, asked Cindy, “Where is she?”

“Terry? She’s at Mark’s church,” Cindy said quietly. “Please don’t go there now. She didn’t invite you because she wanted to do this alone.”

“Do what?” I asked. “And why did they let her out of jail?”

Cindy sighed, saying, “Terry was released this morning, Adrian. She was released because she is no longer a threat to New Haven.”

“The Angels returned her brother?” I asked.

Cindy nodded solemnly. “They’re burying him now.”

Later that evening, Cindy spoke to Mark on the phone, and then told me that Terry had returned to her Uncle Charles’s condo. According to Mark, Terry wanted some privacy.

“But that’s not going to stop you from going down there, is it, Adrian?” asked Cindy.

“No,” I said flatly, “it’s not. Are you coming?”

“I would, but I think one guest is enough at the moment.”

Cindy handed me a bowl of our dinner stew to give to Terry, and I carried it down to the fourth floor.

I had to ring the bell several times before Terry opened the door for me.

“Trust you to be a nosy bastard, Adrian,” she said quietly.

“I’m sorry but I can’t help it. I’m your friend,” I said, forcing my way into her living room and setting the bowl of stew down on the table. “It’s from Cindy.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Have it when you are,” I said. “It was just an excuse for me to come down here.”

Terry stared silently at the bowl.

“I know you don’t like my prying,” I said hesitantly, “but I just had to make sure you were okay.”

“Adrian...”

“Terry,” I said, looking into her eyes, “you don’t have to go through this alone.”

“I thought he died years ago,” said Terry, sobbing quietly. “I didn’t think I’d have to go through this again. He was the only family I really had. But I guess you were right, Adrian. I really am like my grandfather.”

I wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but I shook my head anyway.

Terry wiped her eyes and said, “You remember the puppeteer?”

“How could I forget?”

“That was how my parents died. They were both good blockers, but the Angel controllers were better. During the mission against the Angel stronghold, my parents were turned against their team. Against my grandfather...”

It took a moment before I realized what she meant. “Ralph killed them?”

Terry nodded slowly. “His only son. Yes, my grandfather killed them both. I hated him for that. I’ve hated him all my life, but...” Terry looked away and continued in a whisper, “But I never thought I’d have to choose like he did. I never thought about what he must have felt when he killed his son. And now I’ve done the same. My brother is dead because of what I did.”

“That’s not true and you know it, Terry!” I said forcefully. “You didn’t kill me when the puppeteer took me, and you did everything you could to save your brother. Everything you could do! Don’t blame yourself for this.”

Terry looked at me again, and I said in a quieter voice,
“I wish you had invited me to his funeral, Terry. I didn’t know him, but still...”

“There wasn’t much left of him, Adrian,” said Terry, tears starting to stream down her face. Her voice cracked as she said, “I didn’t want you to see it.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I remained silent.

Terry was desperately trying to hold back her tears, but this was one battle she couldn’t win. “All that time we were laughing and playing down there, they were torturing him to death. I thought I had made my choice, but...”

Terry collapsed onto the floor, wailing. I knelt down beside her.

At first, I was unsure if I should, or even could, but a moment later I had put my arms firmly around her, holding Terry as Cindy had once held me by the side of a dark, cold road.

Terry put her arms around my neck and cried into my shoulder as she said, “I hate it when I cry. I hate feeling like this. I hate it so much!”

We sat embraced on the floor of her living room until well after Cindy’s stew had gotten cold. When Terry finally lifted her head and looked at me, I saw that her eyes were red and puffy, but nevertheless calm and chillingly resolute.

Terry took a few deep breaths before standing up and saying in an almost steady voice, “I’m an Honorary Guardian Knight now too, Adrian. And when I come of age, I’m going to join the Knights. I’m going to hunt the Angels down. I’m going to make them pay!”

“I’ll be there,” I promised, standing and putting my right hand on her shoulder.

“You’re a nosy bastard, Adrian, but you better be there.”

“I will,” I said again.

Terry nodded and gave me a weak smile. “I’ll be okay, Adrian. I promise. I just need some time to myself, okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, turning away and picking up Cindy’s bowl. “Do you want me to reheat this?”

“Put it in the fridge. I’ll have it later. I like Cindy’s cooking.”

I did as she said, and then asked her, “Where is your Uncle Charles, by the way?”

“On a mission, as usual. He comes and goes, but I wouldn’t want him to see me like this anyway.”

I nodded. “I’m sorry if I upset you, Terry. I’ll go now, okay?”

“I’m glad you came,” said Terry. “Thanks.”

I turned to leave, and Terry said, “Adrian, please don’t tell anyone how I was... you know... crying.”

“I wouldn’t dare,” I said with a grin. “You sure you’re going to be okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” said Terry. “Just give me some time.”

In the days that followed, I knocked on Terry’s door more often than I probably should have, but she was never at home. I finally got to meet Uncle Charles in person, though. A burly ex-Wolf soldier, Charles was only a bit younger than Ralph, and he gruffly told me that he didn’t know where Terry was spending her days. Terry wasn’t going to school, and she wasn’t in the dojo.

“She wants you to give her time, Adrian,” said Cindy when she tired of me pestering her for Terry’s whereabouts. “Give her time. Besides, I need you here to help pack the boxes. We’re moving tomorrow.”

The penthouse was finally complete. The next day, Mr. Baker himself showed us what renovations had been made.

“Bulletproof windows are just the start,” he said as we entered the new and improved penthouse. “We also installed panic buttons everywhere.”

Mr. Baker gestured toward a bright red button set into a small square panel on the living-room wall. “There’s one in each room and in the corridors as well. Push any one of them and the Knights will be up here in a flash. Try not to hit them by accident. If you do, keep your front door unlocked because otherwise the Knights will break it down. Again.”

We laughed, and Mr. Baker led us to the game room.

“Your pool room will now double as your safe room,” he said as we entered.

“Safe room?” I asked.

Mr. Baker explained, “The new door has a solid steel core, and the walls have also been reinforced with thick steel plates. Sorry if you feel a bit drained in here playing pool. Notice there is a panic button here too.” Mr. Baker gestured toward the red button and an intercom unit next to it. “The panic button also turns on the intercom, which is on an independent line directly to security headquarters. Make sure you close and lock the door first, though.”

“Quite a fortress, Travis,” remarked Cindy as we returned to the living room.

“It has to be,” replied Mr. Baker. “We’re scrapping the point-defense guns. That whole setup was always a bit awkward anyway. Instead, we’ll have better lobby security checks, and we’ve already set up a dedicated security team just for New Haven One. However, Cindy, I was still hoping I could get your approval to install security cameras, at least in the living room
.”

Cindy said sharply, “We’ve been through this before, Travis. No cameras and no microphones.”

“Okay, okay...” said Mr. Baker, shaking his head.

I asked, “Mr. Baker, do you think the Angels will try to kidnap Cindy again?”

“Probably not in here,” answered Mr. Baker, “but there’s no telling what they’ll try.”

Mr. Baker gazed out the living-room window, his eyes scanning the cityscape below.

“War is brewing,” he said quietly. “The Angels know that they have us in a corner. If they can beat us here, then they will emerge as the one and only, most powerful psionic faction ever. From there, it will only be a matter of time before they reveal themselves to humanity, and attempt to take over.” Mr. Baker turned away from the window and looked at me. “But take heart, Adrian. The balance of power has not yet tipped so far that the Angels can do as they please. The fact that they tried to kidnap Cindy at all proves beyond any doubt that, even without a master controller at the helm, the Guardians are still a force to be reckoned with. The Angels will have to deal with us before they can put any of their other plans forward. And when they come, God willing, we will be ready for them.”