AS THE PASSING WEEKS TURNED INTO MONTHS, MY LIFE became a blur, and I became consumed by the frustration brought on by the constant anticipation of the impending Stranger attack on our school that never came.
Howie was still in protective custody, so I couldn’t rely on him for any leads as to The Suspect’s whereabouts, and when it came to the investigative side of our operation, Jason and I were virtually useless. With Howie out of the picture, our quest to bring down The Suspect and The Strangers had become nothing more than an afterthought.
To make matters worse, I couldn’t shake the feeling that things were going exactly as Agent Wells had planned. After all, he wanted me to give up my pursuit of The Suspect and focus on his mission. By putting Howie in protective custody, he had effectively taken away the brains of our operation and left Ace and me practically shooting in the dark.
As Jason and I sat in 3D, it had been almost sixty days since we last saw or spoke with Howie. We had abandoned our extracurricular vigilante crime fighting because neither of us wanted to take the chance of hitting the streets without Echo monitoring the nearby police activity. Our days mostly consisted of going to school, then meeting at 3D afterward in order to attempt to monitor Stranger activity online. There was a lot of talk and rumors, but there hadn’t been another Stranger attack or a threat from The Suspect since we rescued Howie. Things were quiet but I was smart enough to know that that didn’t necessarily mean that they were finished. Something told me that they were rebuilding their forces and waiting for the right time to strike. I knew that we needed Howie back in order to find them and hit them before they got the chance.
“Have you tried calling him?” Jason asked. I stared blankly at him from across the conference table at which we sat.
“I’ve called Agent Wells a thousand times. He almost never answers, and when he does, he just says that 'for Howard’s protection, it’s best to keep his whereabouts a secret.' It’s like they’ve taken him prisoner,” I said angrily.
“I don’t think they would do that,” Jason replied.
“Why wouldn’t they? What would stop them?” I asked. “We sure couldn’t do anything about it. We can’t exactly call the police and tell them that our best friend has been kidnapped by the government.”
“He wasn’t kidnapped, Reaper. They’re protecting him.”
“Whose side are you on, Ace?” I demanded.
“Look, I care about getting Howie back just as much as you do! Of course I’m on your side and it sucks that you even have to ask,” Jason snapped.
I took a deep breath in order to calm down. Jason was right and I knew it was wrong for me to take my frustration out on him.
“I’m sorry, bro. It’s just frustrating not having him around. We can’t do this without him, Ace. We just can’t,” I finally said.
“We’ll get him back. We just have to be patient. As far as The Strangers are concerned, we’ll just need to keep packing our gear just in case they decide to attack. When they do, we’ll be ready.”
“So, we basically have to wait for more people to die before we can do anything about it,” I groaned.
“What else can we do? We can’t go on the offensive without any intelligence. And whether we like it or not, we don’t have Howie here to get any. Even when he was here, going on the offensive almost got us killed. We have to be smarter this time. The Suspect was foolish enough to reveal his next target to us which gives us an advantage. We may not know when he plans to attack, but we certainly know where. All we have to do is wait him out.”
“But what is he waiting for? It’s been two months, Ace. Why hasn’t he attacked yet?” I grumbled. Jason bit his lip and didn’t respond.
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“I think he might be waiting for Howie to resurface before he hits the school. Howie is the reason he targeted our school to begin with. The Suspect probably wants to make sure that Howie's there before he follows through with his threat.”
“That makes a lot of sense,” I said as I rubbed my chin, “I wonder if Wells would be willing to allow Howie to come back to school for a couple of weeks in order to draw them out.”
“You want to use Howie as bait?” Jason asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.
“I want to catch The Suspect. Besides, you know I won’t let anything happen to Howie.”
“Neither will I, but that doesn’t mean we should use him as bait. What if we’re not fast enough when they hit? What if they kill him?”
“I won’t let them get to him,” I said firmly.
“And what if you can’t do both?”
“What do you mean?”
“What if you can’t kill The Suspect and save Howie? What if you had to choose?”
“I don’t understand what you’re asking me,” I replied.
“I’m just asking if you want to keep Howie alive more than you want The Suspect to die. If that’s the case, then I’m okay with your plan. I just need to know that Howie’s safety is your top priority.”
“Of course it is,” I lied. “Howie’s like a brother to me. You both are.”
Jason nodded, completely unaware of my dishonesty. It was true that I loved them both as if they were my brothers, but I didn’t really know if my love for them was stronger than my hatred of The Suspect. Still, I told Jason what he wanted to hear in order to get him on board with my plan. It bothered me that I had developed such a capacity for deception, but at the time, it seemed necessary.
His question about Howie and the Suspect also bothered me because somehow, it almost seemed like his question implied that the two of them may somehow be connected.
“So, what’s the plan for your birthday?” Jason asked, obviously trying to change the subject. My birthday was on the upcoming Saturday of that week, but I had actually not even thought about it until Jason mentioned it. For some reason, it always seemed like my mother was unusually sad on my birthday. For most of the day, she would just sit there staring into space, seldom moving or even bothering to speak. She would often disappear for hours at a time with no explanation as to where she had been when she returned. Due to her bizarre behavior and a lack of presents, I never really made a big deal about my birthday.
“Nothing spectacular, really. Monica convinced me to spend some time with my mom. We fought a few months back and I haven’t seen her since. Monica thinks it would be a good idea if I buried the hatchet.”
“What do you think?” Jason asked.
“I guess it’s okay. I’m sure you’ve figured out that I’ve been crashing here for a while, now. I haven’t seen her in several months, so I suppose that I kind of miss her.”
“Buddy, you can crash here for as long as you’d like, but I do think it’s a good idea to check on your mom,” Jason said.
I nodded without replying. Maybe it was a good idea, but I wasn’t too fond of the idea of visiting her during the week of my birthday. It always felt weird to even be around her when she fell into the zombie-like state, but Monica thought it was a good idea so I had promised her I would stop by.
“Your girlfriend seems like she has her head on straight,” Jason remarked.
“I suppose she does,” I said flatly.
“Are you guys going to prom this Saturday?”
“Absolutely not,” I said quickly.
“Reaper, it’s prom! And it’s on your birthday!” Jason replied.
“I’m aware.”
“You’ve got to be kidding!” Jason exclaimed.
“No, I’m not kidding. It’s just not my thing. You know I don’t really like crowds.”
“Reaper, you’re an idiot. You’re an absolute idiot. You’re dating the hottest girl in school and you’re not taking her to the prom, which happens to fall on your birthday? Those two factors combined pretty much guarantee your chances of getting a certain birthday gift, if you get my drift.”
“I can’t afford to focus on having fun right now, Ace. Finding The Suspect is my number one priority. Monica doesn’t
know everything, but she knows I’m doing something that is a lot more important than prom. Besides, there’s always next year. We still have time.”
At least I thought we did. There was no way that I could have known just how wrong I was.