Taker (9 page)

That Guy’s a Jerk

T
he guy with
the colorful surfboard and black wetsuit had caught Nicole’s eye a few times over the past hour. He was pretty cute — not on Jason’s level, but he kept glancing over, and it was helping lighten Nicole’s mood.

In the past, she would have noticed him and then felt the paralysis of shyness root her eyes into the ground in the hope he wouldn’t look again. Now Nicole offered a little smile back at him.

The public beach had a few concrete maintenance buildings dotting the small parking area, along with a public restroom with stalls and a basic shower. Each of the buildings was covered with dark blue graffiti. Nicole and Ben had been sitting in the sunshine on the curb. Amy and Drake had made their excuses and were off, likely making out somewhere. Nicole was sensing that the beach was not Ben’s natural habitat. With Internet access absent, he could only twiddle his thumbs and look uncomfortable.

She glanced up at the surfer again and swept a stray hair from her eyes with a flirty little smile. As he turned and laughed with his friend and carried his board up and off the ramp, it occurred to Nicole that any one of those surfers could be an undercover agent. How could she be so paranoid? It was like a stab to her stomach. Was this what it was going to be like from now on? Looking over her shoulder every so often, unable to make new friends for fear of who they really were? Jason appeared trustworthy enough. He’d covered for her. So what the hell was she doing flirting with some other boy?

“Wanna grab something from the food truck?”

“Sure,” Ben replied, relieved to get a break from watching the surfers ride back and forth on the distant waves like hamsters on a wheel.

They walked in silence to the nearby food truck. Small talk was difficult after the extreme circumstances they’d just experienced.

They passed an extinct-looking phone booth — something they didn’t even have around Washington, D.C., anymore. Ben saw an overused phone book and seized his chance.

“Bingo! Let me look something up, and I’ll catch up to you.”

Nicole watched him go, remarking to herself on her friend’s precociousness. Ben would take any opportunity to research anything. She was lucky to have him along.

She leaned on the food truck and ordered two hot dogs — easy on the onion for her, and, for Ben, one crammed with everything, as she knew he liked it.

She took a moment to try to soak in the view of the ocean, but she couldn’t concentrate. The first time she heard the hissing tones of some guy getting angry, she ignored it. But as the person became more determined in his fight, his volume increased. The sound of it raised the hairs on the back of Nicole’s neck.

When Nicole looked up, the sight was unsettling.

It was the surfer she had just seen before, except with his board gone. Now he was almost dragging his girlfriend away from the beach, toward the parking lot. She was pretty, with wavy, fair hair and a sweet, sad-looking face. She had a bruise on her left cheekbone, and when Nicole glanced down at the hole in the girl’s jeans, she could see an older, already-yellowing bruise on her thigh. She concluded this wasn’t the first time the girl had been dragged along a street.

The girl stopped in her tracks then, refusing to go any further.

“No,” Nicole heard her say.

“I said get back to the car! We’re leaving now!” the surfer replied.

The girl stood firmly to the spot and shook her head, though she couldn’t quite make eye contact with him.

“Hey!” Nicole called out, attuned to the danger of the situation. “You OK?”

The man turned his angry eyes toward Nicole, but as if a sudden magic spell had hit him, his face immediately became friendly.

“Hey, no worries, honey. She’s just had a bit too much sun.”

“I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to her,” Nicole reiterated. She locked eyes with the girl. “Do you need help?”

“Sure, sure. You girls all stick together. I said she’s OK. Now run along and mind your own business,” the surfer said condescendingly to Nicole.

The girlfriend now had her arms folded and was staring at the ground. Nicole noticed that she was shivering. The poor girl was so afraid of this man that her body was shaking just at the thought of standing up to him. He wouldn’t do anything now, but later he’d make her pay for this little episode, Nicole thought.

Nicole felt a hand on her arm and jumped. It was Amy.

“I see Ben’s working on his homework.”

“Hm?” Nicole tore her gaze away.

Then Amy noticed what Nicole had been looking at. “That guy’s a jerk.”

Nicole nodded. As the food truck cook handed across the dogs, Amy let out a hungry growl and grabbed Ben’s.

“The works! Just how I like it.”

She munched it with pleasure, waving at Ben as she ate his food.

With the girl now giving in, Nicole noticed the boyfriend grabbing the top of her arm and towing her forward with enough force to lift her feet off the ground.

That was enough.

Nicole took a bite of her hot dog and set it down beside her. She remembered the warmth in the guy’s eyes as he’d carried his board, and then how she’d seen them turn so cold. She could understand how this guy’s cuteness could sucker someone in. And then after the rage came and he’d lashed out at his girlfriend, the charm and sweetness that would follow would seemingly make up for those times. Nicole hadn’t been watching the girl for long, but she could sense she wanted to be brave. Despite the bruises and the fear, she wasn’t intending to go along with this man anymore. She had put her foot down, and Nicole admired that — and she was going to put a stop to this and set her free.

Amy could see Nicole locking her gaze on the surfer, and she had a feeling this might not end well for the surfer.

“Nicole, remember what your dad said. Don’t do anything to draw attention.
Nicole, don’t do this!
”

Nicole sensed the bruises on the girl’s face and leg, and she held out her hands. She didn’t hear Amy’s cautionary words; she just recalled what it felt like to experience the force of fist on skin. She remembered it now, from in the woods with Agent Carter. A government agent turned bad, he’d wanted to hurt her, just like this guy wanted to hurt someone he should care for.

Then, like a heavy rock slamming into her hands, Nicole felt the impact hit her, and she found herself holding the force of the man’s hands and their damaging punches.

At that moment, the guy shoved his girlfriend again, presumably for daring to make him look stupid in front of other people. Taking her opportunity, Nicole punched out her fists and sent whatever forces had created the girl’s bruises right back to their instigator.

From a distance, it looked like an invisible bat swung and knocked the surfer once to his face, and then delivered another crippling blow to his knees. He then collapsed on the ground and cried out in pain. A sudden bruise formed on his cheek, while the mark on the girl’s face faded to reveal her beautiful skin.

From behind her, Nicole heard Amy let out a gasp. The guy glanced back, as if knowing Nicole had some part in what was happening. But Nicole just picked up her hot dog and took a few bites while giving her best death stare. She sipped her soda too, rattling the ice in the cup, as she liked to do.

“Nix, what did you do?” Amy whispered.

The surfer’s girlfriend, as stunned as he was, stood watching him. Then she did something Nicole would have never imagined.

She knelt down and helped him up.

“What is she doing?” Nicole gasped.

“What? You think you’re going to save her by teaching him a lesson?” It was Drake, who’d arrived at Amy’s side as Nicole had been Balancing.

Ben returned then, clutching a ripped page from the phone book.

“Hey! How come you ate my food?” he shouted, grabbing back what was left of his hot dog from Amy. “And,” he continued to Nicole, “how come we’ve been hanging out in the middle of nowhere for two hours so as not to draw attention to ourselves, and then you go and do something like that?”

“He had it coming!” Nicole protested. But with three pairs of disappointed and angry eyes bearing down on her, she realized her actions were indefensible.

She watched after the couple — the guy staggering away from them, supported by his girlfriend.

“How come she doesn’t leave him?” Nicole mumbled to herself. The anger that had welled in her stomach was still strong. It would be so easy for Nicole to crush the surfer like a soda can. Crush his body and make the world a better place.

“Nicole, dial it down a little. Sometimes it’s not black and white,” Drake said. “In fact, you might need to come to terms with the fact that it’s never straightforward.” Drake moved over to block Nicole’s direct line of sight to the surfer and his girlfriend.

“All right, all right!” Nicole blinked and shook her head, trying to stabilize her thoughts. “I hear you all. And I’m sorry, OK?” Nicole was growing a little weary of all this parental hassle from her friends.

“Hold up. She was only trying to help,” Amy cut in. “But Ben’s right. Nothing to see here, folks. It’s been fun, but we gotta move along. So, Christopher Columbus,” Amy directed her question to Ben. “Where do we go next? My vote is for a shopping mall!”

No one seemed to have any patience for Amy’s suggestion, serious or not.

Nicole was busy rummaging in her bag. She pulled out the crumpled magazine and turned it to the page she had seen on the plane.

She showed the photo of the dungeon to her friends.

“We’re going here. Adventure World.”

Arrrrrgh, Mateys!

T
he cab had
taken them through miles of marshes followed by miles of strip malls, gas stations, souvenir shops and food joints. All the while, a seemingly constant barrage of signs had pointed to Adventure World, each indicating a decreasing number of miles to the large park.

After the cab passed through the main Adventure World sign, all the dense commercialism disappeared, replaced with views of lakes and manicured trees and gardens. It was postcard-perfect. Nicole and her friends started to get excited from the anticipation of devoting the rest of the day to the park. Transported into a world where federal agents were no longer hunting them down, they could at least
pretend
to be regular kids again.

They reached the entrance of the main park, and because they’d arrived by cab, they were able to bypass many acres of parking lots, as well as the clusters of visitors lining up at the ticket booths nearest to the parking trams. They used the cash Nicole’s dad had provided to buy the best tickets — the fast-track tickets, which would let them spend more time enjoying the rides than waiting in lines.

They walked through the security bag-check stations and turnstiles toward the large, purple-and-gold archway. The surrounding areas were bedecked with shiny stars and moons, so it felt like emerging from night into the blazing sunlight of the brilliant day. Beneath their feet, emblazoned in the paving stones, were the bright, golden words “Where Adventure Begins,” impressive as the sun hit each filament of stone.

Nicole held her breath at the sheer scale of it all. She had heard about this place, but in person it was massive and just … awesome. In the distance stood the glittering tower, visible from every area of the park. All around, twisting roller coasters interwove with palm trees and lush greenery. The sounds of exhilarated screams and laughter and mechanical pushes and pulls echoed everywhere.

“It’s amazing,” she whispered, grateful that she could still feel stirred by this kind of thing. That magic could co-exist with darkness.

It was Columbus Day weekend, and they had pockets of cash and half a day to kill at the world’s best amusement park. It would be criminal not to make the most of it.

“So, what first?” Nicole asked, unfurling the map of the park.

“There’s so much to see!” Ben quipped. He glimpsed the amused expressions on his friends’ faces. “What? I’ve never been here before.”

“Your parents never brought you to Adventure World? That explains a lot,” Amy snorted.

Ben gave a side-glance. The truthful response would have gone something like, “My parents haven’t spoken to each other since I was 9, so fun and giggles in Adventure World was a bit much to hope for.”

“I haven’t been here before either,” Nicole offered, in a way to show support for Ben. “Mom was always too busy, and when Dad came off his trips, he just wanted to be home and avoid flying.”

Ben walked away from the group and started perusing the different souvenir carts in the vicinity.

Then, a rare event occurred: Amy felt a little guilty for picking on Ben. “You think I hurt his feelings, Nicole?”

“He’ll be OK. I’ll try to cheer him up.”

Nicole studied the map, which was almost as impressive as the park itself. Different areas boasted new and exciting thrills, from the smaller, safer kiddie rides to the scary Ghost Walk, Pirate Adventure and Prehistoric Perils. She pretended to scan all the attractions in the park, but her finger would always hover over the Fountain of Youth ride a little longer than anything else. She spent several minutes examining the layout of the park, and she noticed there was only one main way in and out. A slight panic resurged, as she realized the feds could trap her in this place.

Amy moved next to Nicole to evaluate the map. “What about Arabian Nights?”

Ben returned then, toting a tiara, a large wig, a pirate hat and a superhero helmet. He then proceeded to put the headgear on everybody in the group. Nicole got the tiara, Amy the large wig, Drake the pirate hat, and Ben put the superhero helmet on his own head.

“Remember what Mr. Aaronson said. We need to blend in as much as possible. These hats will help hide our faces from all the cameras, and …”

“And will also make us look as stupid as possible?” Amy offered.

“Amy! Your crazy hair is back!” Nicole beamed as she frizzed up Amy’s wig. Amy couldn’t help but laugh as she gave in, letting herself get into the spirit of Adventure World.

Drake shouted out his best pirate impersonation. “Arrrrrgh, mateys!”

“All right. You win, Ben. We’ll wear the stupid hats!” Amy landed an affectionate punch on Ben’s arm.

“Guess we’d better split up for a couple of hours?” Amy suggested. “The feds are looking to find a group of four. If we split up, we’ll throw them off the scent. Plus, I have about a million things I want to do here today, and there is only one person who’ll put up with me for that whole crazy tour!” Amy kissed Drake and then beamed at the group.

“Sure. Whatever.” Nicole folded her map and pushed down a momentary feeling of unhappiness. Although she wanted to stay together, she understood that splitting up made sense. “You take the west, and we’ll go east toward the Fountain of Youth.”

Amy gasped and pointed at the large, modern-looking roller coaster. “Man, I need us to be on that ride, stat!” With that, she grabbed Drake’s hand and dragged him off.

Nicole knew she wasn’t going to be able to hide her disappointment, but when she turned to Ben, she could see he was suppressing a smile. Maybe this was what it was like to be Ben? To always see someone picked above him? And here he was, ending up with Nicole and looking pretty happy about it.

“So.” Ben clutched his park map as casually as he could. “What first?”

Nicole linked her arm through Ben’s. She saw color flash to his cheeks.

“I say we cut to the chase and get to the Fountain of Youth ride. It might take a while to find the dungeon.”

“Sure thing. Want this?” Ben offered his map.

“Nope, I trust you. You’re the navigator.”

She kept her arm looped through his as they started to walk.

Nicole watched a passing family, the little girl riding on her dad’s shoulders, dressed as a mini-pirate.

“It’s pretty awesome, right?” Nicole asked.

“My mom wanted to bring us, but only when I’d be old enough to remember,” Ben offered. “By the time that happened, my dad had gone off to wherever he went, so then we couldn’t afford it.”

Nicole thought of the few vacations she had been on as a child and had taken for granted at the time, thinking everyone was able to enjoy such experiences. As she watched Ben walking along now, she realized how different they were. How Ben had always stood out in some way or another at school. He had once told her that his mom had moved them to a smaller home so he and his sister could go to the nearby public school.

“Hey, look! We can get that train!” Ben piped up, pointing to the miniature black steam train whistling into a stop ahead of them. “If I’m right, it’ll take us straight there.”

He broke into a run, and Nicole took up his pace. Up ahead, the train was coming to a halt at its station, and its passengers were readying themselves to get out of the open cars behind.

The whistle blew, and the conductor waved at everybody waiting to board the train. Nicole felt the fun catch in her veins, and she began to laugh at the thrill of it — at how this contrasted with pretty much everything else that had happened recently. The run had infused energy back into her legs, and her aching limbs now felt light and nimble once more.

She thought of how different this felt compared with running through the forest with Agent Carter pursuing her — the pounding of her heart, the unevenness of the bouncy ground, and the true, imminent threat. Darkness began to seep in at the edges of her mind again.

No, this wasn’t the place.

Nicole increased her speed, pushing the thoughts behind her. Finally, she and Ben made it to the station. The pair flashed their fast-track tickets, which let them dodge most of the people in line. They found seats at the front, near the train conductor, and collapsed into them, laughing as the train started moving off.

“We can stop at the next station,” Ben said. “And maybe after the Fountain of Youth, we can see Adventure Tower? Prehistoric Perils?”

They calmed down and fell silent as they caught their breath, watching the rest of the crowds as roller coasters swooped past. Children danced by in fancy dress, some as pirates, others as dinosaurs, and still others as pirate dinosaur princesses. As the steam train wound its way through the different lands, Nicole found herself wondering how Amy was, and whether she would have done the same thing if Jason were here. She remembered him now — his scent, the flash of blue in his eyes, and that half-smile that brought just the slightest dimple to his cheek. She could hardly blame Amy for wanting to spend part of the day with Drake.

“Nicole?”

She felt a timid tap on her shoulder, and noise and color drained back into the world. Ben was nudging her to disembark the train, the cavernous entrance to the Fountain of Youth ride yawning ahead of them.

“We’re here.”

Easing herself out of the open carriage and onto the platform, Nicole stopped to take it all in. She could already hear the strains of music from the ride — it had a deep, reverberating song that began with ancient
hums
and
ohms
and string music.

Oh, the years gone by.

The mistakes I’ve made!

I’ve been searching far and wide.

I’ll find myself a spring.

Through my traveling

That will cast the years aside.

A fountain in the ground

From legend that’s been told

Brought me miles from home today.

I’ll find myself the spring.

Through my traveling

And I’ll cast the years aside.

My friends they think I’m mad

But I’ll prove them wrong

When I come home a younger man

Having found the spring.

Back home from traveling

Happy to cast those years aside.

“I’ve got a feeling I’m going to be haunted by that song all day,” Ben remarked as they walked into the building that housed the ride.

“There are worse things, I guess,” Nicole added. The tune was catchy, and as the conquistador waved them forward, she felt a thrill of anticipation at what they might uncover.

Maybe this place would have some of the answers she had been hoping for.