EMIT (THE EMIT SAGA) (41 page)

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The morning was dark grey and wet. Needing my Daniel fix, I called him.

“Why are you up so early? It’s only seven!” he asked.

“What are you talking about? You were the one working. How’d it go?”

“We found nothing. It’s really frustrating. Do you think you could go and look around?”

“I doubt
I’ll do any better, but I’ll see if Dad can have lunch. I’ll call you when Mom leaves.”

When I walked into the kitchen, Mom was finishing the clean up from
last night.

“
Did you ask Martin to say something about relationships or was that all Martin?” I asked.

“
We like Daniel, but you’re rushing into a serious relationship.”

“I’ll be eighteen in December. You can’t tell me who to like or to date. Martin and Marina met in high school, so Martin saying anything is so ridiculous. It’s like the pot calling the kettle black. Don’t you think?” I asked angrily.

Mom looked frustrated, but didn’t say anything to rebut my comment.

“Where’s Dad?” I asked.

“He went in early. There was an emergency. Sonia called in sick on Friday. Yesterday, she didn’t come in and when she didn’t call, the office got concerned. Maria called Sonia’s parents in Massachusetts and they hadn’t heard from her either. Maria went to her apartment in Brooklyn last night and got the super to open the door. Sonia wasn’t there, but her pocketbook with her wallet, cell phone and keys were. It’s like she just disappeared. They notified the police and now it’s a missing person’s case.” My heart stopped beating.

“Hopefully, everything will be okay,” she said.

Walking backwards, I said, 
“I’m going to go to Dad’s office, maybe I can help somehow.”

“I’m sure he’d like it, but call him first, he might be going crazy.”

I knew if I called, he’d tell me not to come and I was going. As I reached for my cell, it rang. “I didn’t want to tell you about Sonia. I didn’t want to scare you,” said Daniel.

“When did you find out?”

“Last night, when your dad heard it from Maria.”

“I thought you were watching her, what happened?”

“The agents had no idea she ever left her apartment.”

“Wasn’t she being bugged?”

“We didn’t bug her apartment. There was a tracker on her cell, but since it was left behind that didn’t help,” said Daniel.

“Did Sonia disappear before?” I asked wondering.

“No. Things are changing so rapidly that it’s impossible to go by past events.

Quickly dressing, I went back downstairs. Mom was taking Amber to the vet and then going to work. The minute she left I texted Daniel, and shortly after, there was a knock on my door.

I opened the door and found Luke standing there. Lucia was behind him smiling.

“Hey neighbor! Luke’s been begging since six to come say hello. I couldn’t hold him back anymore.”

“I missed you,” I said and picked him up with my good arm. Good thing he’s light. As I hugged him, I began twirling him. Lucia came forward dodging his flying feet. I put him down and he beamed his tanned face at me.

“You got so
dark!”

“I’ve been swimming without my swimmies,” he proudly informed me.

“Wow, that’s great!” Turning to Lucia, I asked, “How are you?”

“Good,
I had to come back for an audition. How’s your arm. I can’t believe what happened.”

“I know. It’s getting better. I just want this cast off.”

The elevator door opened and Daniel came walking down the hallway. He was his usual breathtaking self. Lucia watched him as he approached and raised her eyebrows at me.

“Hey, Paige,” Daniel said and kissed me on the cheek.

“Lucia, Luke this is my boyfriend, Daniel. Daniel, these are my neighbors, Lucia and Luke.”

“Well, well,” Lucia said, “It’s very nice to meet you.” Luke was behind Lucia peering up at Daniel cautiously.

“You too,” Daniel said and got down on his knees to chat with Luke. As he showed Luke a magic trick with a coin, Lucia gave me the thumbs up sign. I nodded. After we said we’d get together soon, Daniel and I went into my apartment.

“Come here, beautiful,” he said as I walked into his arms. The scent of him was so familiar that I would know it was him with my eyes closed.

I was so worried about Sonia. “Do you think she’s okay?”

“We’ll try and find her, but I don’t think it’ll be a good outcome, so be prepared.”

I hoped that Sonia was okay. When terrifying scenarios began swimming in my head, I realized that I wasn’t helping anybody and needed to get empowered somehow. 

It finally came to me. “Do you have a gun?”

“Yes,” he answered, as his brow furrowed.

“Where is it? I’ve never seen it.” He lifted his jean leg and
it was strapped to his leg.

“Where was it on Long Island? You were in shorts.”

“The boat or the car and when we were out, I always wore long pants.”

“Can I have a gun?”

“No.” Seeing the fear in my face he added, “I’ll be with you. Don’t worry.”

I closed my eyes. All the sleepless nights filled with nightmares were getting to me.

Daniel asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’m so tired. Almost every night, I have crazy dreams about getting hurt or killed. Do you think it’s possible that I’m reliving real memories?

“I’m not sure,” Daniel answered. “I guess it’s possible. Those things did happen to you, but since you’re the only person I’ve ever spoken to about this, I can’t be positive. I’ll ask the scientists about it.”

“Thanks. I keep dreaming of this man that was recently found in the park with amnesia.”

“You are?” Daniel asked sounding amused.

“Yeah, why’s that funny?”

“That guy did try to kill you. We gave him a drug to forget things and he had a bad reaction.”

“And you just left him in the park?” I gasped.

“He’s not a good guy, but don’t worry about him. His family finds him at the hospital.”

“
Will he get his memory back?”

“No, but he’ll stop being a criminal.”

Daniel got a text that a car was waiting for us downstairs. It was time to leave.

“
You’ll be safe inside. You met Jared, right?”

“Yes...”

“He’s one of our men. I’ll take you up in the elevator. I’ll let Jared know that you’ll be there and I’ll be in the lobby. Everyone else will be outside.”

“But he’s been there three years!” I realized the day Jared walked me to the library had been staged. He was protecting me.

“Three summers, actually. Call me when you’re leaving.”

It was alm
ost one o’clock and Dad wasn’t there. Maria said he was in court. I told her I wanted to leave him a note and hurried in to his office. Five minutes into my snooping, I heard knocking and I cautiously opened the door, but it was Jared and not some crazed terrorist.

“Daniel told me what you’re doing and I’ll be right outside if you need me.”

“Thanks Jared. No one is helping him today?” I asked, looking at Sonia’s empty desk.

“
One of the other secretaries is helping from her desk and a temp is coming tomorrow.”

A
n entire team of professionals had been here and found nothing, so my visit was absurd. I glanced at the old photos of me on his bookshelf and cringed. They had to be changed as soon as possible. I looked around and I was right. I found nothing. As I exited, Jared looked up expectantly.

I shook my head
. “Did they look through Sonia’s stuff?”

“Yes, they searched her apartment, too.” Of course they did. I called Lily and told her to meet me at Dad’s office. Frustrated, I sat at Sonia’s desk and talked to Jared. I noticed Jared’s left hand and he had the same three tattooed dots that Daniel did. That’s what the bandage was covering. Was that the symbol for all the EMIT people?
James Haydin didn’t have it, but he didn’t seem like a tattoo kind of guy. Maybe it was the symbol just for the time travelers. I’d have to keep an eye out for everybody’s hands.

Jared got called away.
It was weird that he worked at the firm and also at EMIT.

I remembered that Mom had gone to the vet
, so I called to see how Amber was. She said the vet found some strange electronic gadget embedded under her skin. They put a tracker in Amber! I was going to kill Daniel.

“Dr. O’Reilly had no idea what it was. He gave me the disc and said
that it happened within the last week. Maybe while she was roughhousing on the sand, it somehow got lodged in. Thank goodness she has such sensitive skin and we saw it.”

After the call, I called Daniel. “Did you implant something in Amber?”

“No one from EMIT did that. I just checked. It might not be anything at all, but I want to see that disc. Can you get it from your mom?”

“
I’ll try. Amber was with us the whole time …except for that one hour we lost her,” I said.

“
The neighbor’s name was Laura Burke. I’ll have her checked out.”

I was getting paranoid witho
ut knowing what the gadget was, but if it was a tracking device and EMIT didn’t do it, that meant the bad guys were on the island.

It was almost five o’clock
when Dad showed up.

“Buttercup, what
are you doing here?” he asked and gave me a big hug, while I winced. There was no rhyme or reason to when Dad used my nickname, but here it was humiliating.

“Dad, please don’
t call me that at work,” I said embarrassedly.

“Sorry, I forgot where we were for a minute. Been a bit pre-occupied.” He began looking at the mail on his desk.

“Its okay, Dad,” I added, changing my tone. “I heard about Sonia and I came to help.”

“That was nice of you. Sonia’s disappearance is so bizarre. I don’t know what to make of it. Her parents are frantic.” He reached for his briefcase and started putting files inside. “Let’s go home. I’ll work there.”

“I’m waiting for Lily, but you can go.”

“No, I’ll wait with you. I need to return some phone calls anyway,” he said.

I went to the bathroom and called Daniel.

“Do you think you’ll walk home?”
he asked.

“Probably.” It had stopped raining and Dad loved to walk.

“We’ll be right behind you.”

M
y cell rang. Lily was downstairs in the lobby and I went to tell Dad.

“The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead.”
Einstein

The sky was still overcast and it looked like it was about to rain. Dad was undeterred and we proceeded up Sixth Avenue. Looking around, I didn’t see Daniel. As always, traffic was at a standstill because of rush hour. On Central Park South, I saw a black van pull up alongside and presumed it was the agency tailing us home. When we reached Columbus Circle, Daniel appeared and I was so relieved.

Daniel and Lily walked
behind Dad and I. It was too difficult to walk together. When Dad asked Daniel a question, Lily joined me in front to let them talk. I looked around nervously and noticed that Lily was watching me. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, just really tired. I haven’t been sleeping well. So tell me about Chad,” I said, wanting Lily to distract me.

As we got closer to home, the tension was slowly receding. The light changed, but Dad and Daniel missed it and didn’t cross with us. Lily and I stopped to wait for them. The van that I mistook for the agency pulled up and two men jumped out. One grabbed Lily and the other one leaped on me. They covered our mouths and began pulling us towards the van. All I saw was sheer terror in Lily’s eyes pleading for help. I turned and saw Dad’s horrified expression from across the street. Daniel started yelling and the one holding me got startled and released me. They raced across the street maneuvering around people and cars. Daniel tackled the guy, but the van with Lily sped off.
Oh my God!

Daniel looked up and the guy pulled out a gun. Dad lunged at him. Suddenly, Dad crashed to the sidewalk with such force that I didn’t know what happened. Had he been shot?

“DAD!” I shouted and rushed over to him. After a few blinks, his eyes stilled and then closed. Looking up, Brad was handcuffing the man and Daniel was on the phone.

“Daniel, help me, please,” I screamed. Dad was unconscious and unresponsive.

Daniel kneeled near my father.

“Is he dead?” I was too scared to look.

“No, he’s breathing.”

“Thank God!”
This was my fault. I should’ve told him about the danger I was in, that we were all in. I’d endangered my whole family.
LILY! WHERE WAS SHE?
My head was about to explode. Please let her be okay, I prayed. Don’t let them hurt her. Please, let Dad be okay.