F U T U R E B A R R I E R
( The 3rd Novel )
Secret Technology, Unrequited Love, Absolute Vengeance
© February 2017 Written by David Wicker
Please do not reprint without permission
CHAPTER 2 - "Unseen Observation"
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This chapter is Rated: EVERYONE
Lilly patted my shoulder realizing I was silent because of my shame of the past which apparently would go with me to my grave.
Suddenly Choo-Choo, Lilly's pet squirrel, leapt down from a tree directly onto Lilly's shoulder as we started to approach residential. Using the mysterious plugin earlier, he was granted by SIM the onboard Artificial Intelligence in it, the ability to communicate in English with us, and since he was a pet given to her from England, his accent reflected this.
He was all excited and spoke in a tinny cockneyed voice, "Miss Lilly ! I just saw one of those bloody Arkos vehicles drive down yonder road ! They're looking for someone they are ! Pennies to Lollies it's Dev !"
"Oh s**t !" Lilly replied back to Choo-Choo. Then she turned her head to look at me, "Dev, you know where Scant lives, doncha ?"
I nodded a little confused at her question, "Yeah, he's on the other block. I got beat up for getting curious and finding that out one time." and I pointed across the way. "Why do you need to know ?"
"Well that's where we're going." she said.
My face paled up at the thought. Lilly was quick to reply, "Hey don't forget Scant invited us both over for the party ! You're NOT gonna get beat up, okay ? I'll make sure of that !"
And then she grabbed my hand which was definitely all the comfort I needed right now. I felt pressure build up in my chest from the good feeling her holding my hand gave me.
She looked down the road and scowled, "Those Arkos idiots won't be looking for you there anyways and besides, your parents were just going to drive you over there once we arrived for your party. Let's call them from Scant's and let them know what's going on."
"Okay." I said. Man ! Lilly sure was smart, and pretty ! I smiled at her and she smiled back in a special way that made me feel tight and dizzy in my chest. Geez. If I weren't dating Tyr I imagine it wouldn't take much for me to be with Lilly.
"C'mon, loverboy." she said playfully at my more than shy look and had to wiggle out of me holding her hand. Then I followed as she led the way.
Meanwhile back around my house one of the Arkos vans was indeed parked a short distance away. It held a satellite antenna on top and two agents inside were probing inside of my house listening to the conversation. They finally honed in on one going between my Dad and Mom.
"I guess Dev was kept after school." my Dad's clear voice crackled and went through Arkos' interior speaker in their van where several hi-tech computers were operating diligently.
"Oh dear." My Mom said, "You don't think he's in any trouble, do you ?"
Dad smiled, "As long as Dev keeps dating Tyr there will always be in trouble." and he chuckled to himself.
"What about his Birthday ?" My Mom asked and then there was a squeal of static that drowned her out from the agents' speakers.
"Get it back !" Kelther told Deccos who was waiting for information to determine where Dev was right now. Apparently the two bumbling agents were back in force.
"I can't." Deccos replied back with a bit of snippiness in his voice. "Something has drowned out the signal." and he switched to show the wave pattern on the screen.
"What could possibly - " Kelther began but then stopped when he looked at the wavy lines appearing on the display. "A Hair dryer ! Lovely !"
My Mom continued to blow dry her hair as Dad was in the bathroom as well and they continued to talk about preparations for my birthday.
Finally the hair dryer stopped and the static of the invasive device of Arkos stopped squealing. Kelther leaned forward to listen carefully.
Dad was the first to speak. "Dev will have a great birthday while he's there and we can get a night out to ourselves besides."
Kelther paused for a moment and finally spoke thoughtfully realizing quite a bit was revealed in that single sentence. "They aren't having the party at home nor or they going out together for it. But where the HELL will Dev be then !?"
Suddenly the pair heard a phone ring. It was from their speakers so it was at my home.
My Dad answered it, "Oh ? Hi son ! Where are you ?"
Kelther was raging to Deccos, "Trace that damned phone call !"
Deccos quickly reached over to a computer keyboard and started to enter values in it. The wave pattern vanished to be replaced by a map of the city shown up and vector lines started sweeping across the city of Wanabee in an effort to trace my phone's location.
Dad laughed, "You're already there ! That's fine. We'll see you there shortly."
Kelther raised his hand to stop Deccos from the trace but stopped when he heard Dad continue, "Oh ? You don't want us to go there ? Why ?"
* * *
Kelther motioned to continue the tracking. There was silence as Dad listened.
"Really ? What an imagination Dev ! Hang on a sec."
You could hear my Dad's footsteps. Deccos tapped a button out of instinct to pause the phone trace and you could see a topview of my house and it's interior with one red dot working it's way to the front door and a different one in the bathroom.
"Take off !" Kelther choked seeing that my Dad would see the Arkos van clearly parked outside now. "Don't let him see us here !"
Dad opened up the door and saw a van peel away with a scurry of gravel. It appeared to have a Pizza logo written on it, but it wasn't from any pizza company he knew of in the area.
"Wow. There was - someone here, Dev." Dad added on the phone. "I don't know if they were after you though." There was a pause. "Yes, I know - Tyr was kidnapped. We still don't have anything to go on there. Look, I'll take care of things here. You'll be alright there ?"
There was another pause. "Fine. Me and your Mom will go to the restaurant as we planned and we'll pick you up at Theodore's later." then Dad hung up the phone.
"Who was that honey ?" My Mom asked entering the living room to see Dad closing the front door.
"I think those kidnappers are after our son, honey. I'm going to call the police. This has to stop." he told her.
"Oh dear." My Mom fretted then stopped to control herself. She wasn't going to lose control. She saw the way Annie handled Tyr being gone so long and she didn't want to get like that, not with Dev's location known and that he was safe, for the time being.
That's a good idea, sweetie. Let me finish my hair." and she left to re-enter the bathroom.
Dad picked up the phone and called the Wanabee police station. Dempsey answered the phone in a separate van, clearly not the police station, as it was white and marked only in small print ARKOS but somehow the phone number rang here instead.
His big and burly self barely fit in the small chair in the van and he rumbled on the phone, "Wanabee Police, officer Dempsey speaking, how can I help you ?"
My Dad relayed what he heard and saw.
Dempsey smiled wide and his shaggy beard stretched, crackling like spent leather over his face in a grin, "Oh ? Certainly, Mr. Borne. We'll be over shortly." and then clicked closed the receiver.
Stanlie stood nearby. Dempsey nodded to him. "Get on your outfit. The 'Police' are going to investigate a possible attempt at kidnapping Dev."
Stanlie smiled wickedly. Inside the van was a small police car. The transportation they would use to visit the parents.
Dempsey added, "Let me call Stefani and let her know what's happening here. She wanted to be on top of recapturing Dev and according to Mr. Borne our two idiots almost got caught and couldn't trace the line so we need to find where he went to."
The scene swirled out to show an oddly smiling figure of Scant looking down at smaller me and Lilly. Choo-Choo had hopped off into a tree before they rang the doorbell earlier and were admitted in.
Scant looked a little strange smiling nicely. It was if all his life his energy was spent in smirking, frowning, and growling. His cheeks twitched a little, uncomfortable at trying to present himself in a nice reflection at the moment. He was also dressed in a nice suit, like for church. Quite sincerely he looked terrible in it.
Like a large pink brick wrapped in a molded brown spinach leaf. Ugh !
"So good to see you." Scant said with as much sincerity as his voice could muster, which wasn't much. His sharp teeth flashed as he held his hand out to me. I shook it unbidden and Scant gripped it hard but didn't hurt me, instead pumped it up and down.
"I think we could be good friends given time now." he added.
I wasn't about to accept this just yet, "You mean now that Tyr is out of the picture."
Scant coughed uncomfortably which sounded suspiciously like nervous laughing but he didn't elaborate.
Lilly fortunately intervened and gave Scant a serious stink-eye, "I'll be keeping an eye on this party, Scant, so there better not be any funny business ! Dev is, after all, the birthday boy here and he is to be treated with respect ! Got it !?"
Scant's expression changed from smugness to shock, "No way, Lilly ! It will be great ! Lots of cake, punch, ice cream, candy, popcorn, and several movies to boot ! It's going to be an ALL-NIGHTER - well past midnight !"
That phrase pricked in the back of my brain. All-nighter ? Didn't that mean something sinister ?
I had done a bit of research on the internet about bullying techniques, mostly to learn how to avoid them and to recognize the tricks they played on people like me, and I had definitely seen that term before, but from where, I couldn't remember ?
Scant saw that I had a reaction to that term and then played further on my fears, "An ALL-NIGHTER, Dev. Everyone will be there. Won't that be fun ? Lots to eat and drink with you as the guest of honor to oversee it !" he then put a friendly arm around my shoulder and squeezed invitingly.
I shuddered. There was definitely something amiss here. Lilly looked concerned for a moment at my sudden expression of paling fear and then gave a fierce expression to Scant, knowing he was sending some kind of secret message to me.
"Fun." Scant said, not focusing so much on smiling innocently now. I felt like my ears could pop from the pressure building up in my head as I racked it to remember what the haunting term meant.
(To be continued) ...
END OF CHAPTER 2
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