EMIT (THE EMIT SAGA) (18 page)

“A crazy co-worker stabbed me. I’m thinking of filing a lawsuit. Do you think your dad will represent me?”

“I doubt it.” I gave up. He was never going to tell me. He was such a joker.

He
ended up walking me all the way to the library, saying he was meeting his friend in an hour and had time to kill. Arriving at Lincoln Center, I tried saying goodbye to Jared on the street, but he insisted on walking me to the door.

“I have to escort you to the door. My bodyguard certificate will be taken away otherwise.”

“Okay, you preformed your duties admirably. Thank you,” I said, once I got to the door.

“If you ever need my services, please call. My hourly rate is very fair,” he said handing me his business card. It just had his name and phone number.

“Thanks Jared. If I ever need a bodyguard you will be the first person I call.”

Jared smiled and headed down the street. What a nut job!

I ran in and decided to check out James Haydin. The NSA website didn’t have any information on him. Nor was there anything anywhere else, no images, no data, nothing. There was nothing on a Daniel Haydin anywhere on the Internet either. I read more about the NSA scandals and learned that the NSA's work was limited to communications intelligence not spying on people.

I found
Mom on the second floor and we went to a sushi place near home. After dinner, I offered to take Amber for a quick walk, but Mom said she needed some exercise and wanted to take a long walk. I wasn’t in the mood, so I stayed behind. As soon as she left, the house phone started ringing and wouldn’t stop. Every time I looked at caller ID, it said unknown caller and they never left a message.

When Mom returned, I
thought about talking to her about my crazy concerns, but decided against it. She was already worried about Daniel and I’d just make things worse if I were wrong.

I curled up under a big chenille blanket on the couch
in the den to watch a movie. The walls were painted a dark maroon and the couch was covered in a cream and red paisley tapestry. There were two dark cream-colored leather armchairs near the gas fireplace. Photos of me at horse shows covered one wall. I started out in the Hunter and Equitation division, but switched to the Jumpers division because of the speed and the objective form of judging. It was all based on how fast you covered the course without errors. In the other disciplines, it was all about what the judges thought of you, and your horse.

After the movie ended, I went upstairs and found Mom reading a book in bed
. She had the news on so I sat in a chair and watched.

“A man was found in Central Park today with amnesia and the police are asking the public for help in identifying him. If anyone knows this man please call the number below or your local police station.”
I stared at the man’s face and he seemed so familiar.

“Mom, do
you know him?”

Mom looked up and said, “No, I
’ve never seen him before.”

“That’s weird. I’ve seen him somewhere.
”

When
I told Mom I had the next day off, she asked if I’d come to her office and help her.

That night, I woke up from a nightmare covered in sweat. In my dream, the
man with amnesia was chasing me and he shot me in the back. It felt so real that I actually felt the pain. I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.




I regretted going to
Mom’s office. It was a total disaster. Photos, magazines and beauty products were everywhere. She was a neat freak, so this made no sense.

“What happened in here?”

“Oh, this has to be all thrown out. I went through it yesterday, but didn’t have time to finish.”

For lunch, we grabbed a sandwich at a nearby Au
Bon Pain. We finished around four and Mom had nothing else for me to do, so I played on the computer until it was time to leave.

Dad
called and said that he’d be working late again.

After dinner, Mom and I took Amber for a walk in the park.
It was a dreary grey evening.

“So, what’s going on with Daniel?”
she pried.

“Nothing.
I haven’t heard from him.”

“Oh really
,” she said and it sounded like she was pleased.

That really infuriated me. “
Please, stop talking about Daniel,” I demanded.

Mom stared at me and said, “Calm down. Why are you acting like this?”

“Because I can tell that you’re really glad that I haven’t heard from him.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just concerned.”

“There’s nothing to be concerned about. Absolutely nothing is going on, so stop.” We walked in complete silence all the way home.

Danie
l called that evening, but his tone was so casual and weird.

“H
ow’s it going?” he asked.

“
Fine. What happened the other night? You seemed upset.”

“It was about work. I forgot to do something. My uncle was
really annoyed with me.”

“Oh. What have you been doing?” I asked.

“Just working. Are you going to Long Island this weekend?”

“No, we’re staying here. My parents have a
wedding on Saturday and my dad’s birthday is on Sunday. We’re having dinner with my brother.”

“
You have a brother?”

“
Yeah, his name’s Martin. He’s actually my half-brother, same dad different moms. He’s fifteen years older and is married to Marina.” What’s wrong with me? I had been so pre-occupied with Daniel that I forgot to mention my own brother. “Martin has a daughter, her name’s Anna and she turned one in June, so that makes me an aunt,” I added.

As we talked,
Daniel started sounding more normal and actually laughed a few times.

“
I wanted to ask you to a film this weekend, but I see you’re busy,” Daniel admitted.

“No, I’m not. My parents are going to the wedding, not me,” I explained. “I’d love to see a movie.” No matter what was going on I really liked Daniel and I’d talk to him in person.

“Great. I’ll call you Saturday afternoon.”

My heart skipped a beat.
What was I worried about? Nothing had happened. How could Daniel be a spy? A photo disappeared so what was the big deal? The only thing that kept nagging at me was how did it vanish from both our computers? How was that possible? I really was at a loss to explain that one.

Since Lily wasn’t
going to Grammy’s either, we made plans to spend the weekend together. On Saturday, we’d spend the day together and as always, Lily suggested shopping. Later when I saw Daniel, Lily could hang out with Daphne and Grace or wait for me at home.

After we hung up, I decided to read some poetry and grabbed the John Keats book. I picked “Bright Star…” because it sounded upbeat.

BRIGHT STAR, WOULD I WERE STEDFAST AS THOU ART

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever--or else swoon to death

This love poem was eerily poignant. A man was watching his love while she slept. Since death was inevitable, he wished to be a star. In that way their love would last forever since a star had, or so he thought, a limitless life. The poem was a paradox of immortality and love. Knowing that Keats died at twenty-five from tuberculosis made me understand why he wished for immortality.



Dad went to court and was out of the office all day. He called
when I was standing at the elevator to leave and asked me to bring some files home. I waited for Sonia and she handed me a large shopping bag.

I walked up Fifth Ave
and entered the park at 59th Street. As I strolled on a path listening to my iPod, I saw two men walking towards me. They were still quite a bit away from me, but I moved onto the grass for them to be able to pass. When I did that, they stopped and glared at me. One of them looked like the man from the block party. I got scared and froze in place. There were a lot of people around, so what could they actually do? They exchanged words, moved onto the grass directly in my path and resumed walking towards me. The man I didn’t recognize was reaching for something in his jacket pocket. I didn’t know if I was hallucinating or not, but it looked like a gun.

I was about to turn and run in the other direction, but the dream that I got shot in the back popped into mind. Was that nightmare a warning? I heard someone approaching from behind and
was terrified. Suddenly, Daniel was standing in front of me. I stared into his eyes and knew that I was involved in something really dangerous.

“Hi!”
he said. He bent down and hugged me. I didn’t know what he was doing. He suddenly lifted me up and turned me so that my back was facing the men.

I kne
w the hug wasn’t real, but I was so happy to be in his arms. I felt safe.

As Daniel released me, I managed to ask, “What’s going on?”

I glanced behind me and saw that they had stopped moving. One was on his cell.

Without answering my question,
Daniel put an arm around my shoulder and pushed me back to where I entered the park. We walked in silence. Something bad would’ve happened if Daniel hadn’t shown up, I knew that.

“
What’s going on?” I repeated. “Who were those men?”

“What men?” Daniel asked flippantly, attempting to pretend nothing happened.

I said angrily, “What did they want? And don’t tell me you don’t know.”

“
Not here. Let’s go to my apartment.”

When we got to the street, h
e raised his arm and a black car with tinted windows materialized. This was the type of car I’d been seeing all over Long Island and now all the pieces were falling into place. I hadn’t been imagining anything; I was being watched. Terrified, I began shaking. Daniel put his arm around me and I suddenly realized that his interest in me wasn’t romantic at all. That’s why he hadn’t kissed me or even tried.

The driver nodded at Daniel, but they said nothing to each other. I refused to look at Daniel and stared out the window feeling so deceived.

Once we were safely inside the Dakota, I collapsed on the sofa. He was watching me and I waited for him to speak.

The silence was killing me. I demanded, “Are you going to tell me what’
s going on?”

Daniel kept looking at his cell as if he was reading something. He finally put down his phone and faced me.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you what’s going on. Please trust me, you’re safe. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“What
do you mean you can’t tell me?” I said loudly, wondering if his uncle was around.

“I can’t talk about it
. It’s classified,” he answered, as if that should end my questions.

I wanted to scream at him, but decided that before I antagonized him I had to get some information.
“You work for the NSA and you’re spying on my family?” I asked acting composed, but inside I was enraged.

After a long pause, he admitted, “Yes. I’m
protecting you.”

“What do I need protecting from?”

“It’s classified,” he repeated and kept staring at his cell.

“
From our first meeting in Central Park, you’ve been watching me?”

“Yes,” he admitted reluctantly.

I couldn’t believe it. I never needed to search for Daniel. He’d been following me all along. I felt like such a fool! “Did you delete your photo from our computers?”

“Yes, there can’t be pictures of me.
”

What did that mean? Suddenly, I thought of Pierce being in Cutchogue.
“Has Pierce been watching me too?” I asked. Daniel nodded. I suddenly remembered my sightings of Daniel out there. “Have you been on Long Island?” Again, he nodded.

“
Oh, my God, I wasn’t crazy,” I exclaimed, but I felt crushed. “You’ve been using me.” It was one thing to think it, but completely different to have it confirmed. I wasn’t able to hold my emotions in check any longer. “You’ve been pretending to like me. How dare you?”

“
It hasn’t been all work. I do like you and that’s been a problem.”

Temporarily, I was on cloud nine because h
e admitted that he liked me, but none of this made sense. The NSA has nineteen-year-old spies. “How old are you?” I demanded angrily.