Cristal leaned towards Kerim and whispered, “You like starting trouble, don’t you?”
“I was just trying to be a gentleman. Besides, I need my caffeine fix.”
She was relieved to be able to sit down and have a real conversation with him. Who knew that this would be the sweet "aftershock" following the stunt she pulled on Harry earlier.
“I guess I could do with an iced café after all we’ve been through.”
He leaned forward, and admitted in a semi-sultry voice, “Now I’ve revealed my weakness to you.”
“You’re hilarious,” she said, putting her hands on the table. “My dad always said, ‘Never reveal your weaknesses.’”
“You have a very wise father,” he said.
His steel grey eyes probed hers, looking for what… she wasn’t sure. The sadness that she buried deep down inside suddenly welled up in her throat.
“Yes, he is…” she half-whispered, “or was.”
She looked down at the table.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” Kerim reached for her hand.
She looked up at him and tried to blink away the tears. Tears that betrayed the cold loneliness she felt every day. Loneliness that had become part of her, since the day her father disappeared.
“No, it’s okay. He went missing when I was a kid.”
Cristal focused her eyes on Kerim, telling herself to calm down. She had never shared personal information about her father with anyone other than Harry.
“But I know he’ll be back.”
“I understand. My older brother went MIA when I was in the Army,” he said.
Cristal noticed his other hand clenched into a fist.
“Missing in action?”
“Yes,” he said in a quiet voice, and then he turned his head to look out the window.
She put her other hand on top of his. She knew how it felt to have a loved one go missing.
He cleared his throat, and said, “Okay, let’s talk about what happened today.”
He gently pulled his hand away from hers.
“Yes, let’s do that.”
She leaned back and folded her hands in her lap.
“I don’t think that there was an earthquake,” he said quietly. “I know you feel the same way.”
She let out a loud sigh, just as the shop owner walked towards them with their drinks.
“Thank you very much,” she said, relieved to have a moment to think of an answer.
“Do you mind turning on the television?” Kerim asked him.
“Sure, I didn’t even bother checking if the cable was working.”
He went to the counter and grabbed the remote. He pointed it towards the large flat screen TV hanging on the wall, and pressed the button to turn it on. The local news station came up on the screen. The anchorwoman was speaking, but there was no sound. He pressed the button to turn up the volume.
“…reports from Manila, Rome, Gaza, Haifa, and Vancouver confirm that earthquakes occurred at the precise time as the one that hit Manhattan at 1:25 p.m. Eastern Standard Time today.”
Chapter 11
Want Some Answers
IT WAS SEVEN HOURS AFTER the earthquake. Dr. Saeed, dressed in his white lab coat, over black casual slacks and a Ford dress shirt, and wearing his Boss glasses on top of his head, stood at the front of the classroom alongside Harry. His hair was combed back and his face was clean-shaven.
His real name was Dr. Saeed Nariman but students had such a hard time pronouncing his last name, so he asked everyone to call him Dr. Saeed instead. Out of all the professors, Cristal always thought Dr. Saeed was the most stylish prof at the university. Three video chat windows were opened on the projection screen. Cristal was sitting on a stool in the first row of lab tables. Gabriel sat beside her with Kerim on the other side. Joanna sat front and center of the tables, positioned in clear view of Harry, purposely blocking Cristal’s view.
Cristal entertained the thought of reaching over and smacking the back of her head. Kerim’s knee hit hers.
She turned to him and mouthed the words “What?”
He tossed her a half grin.
Is he reading my mind? She shivered at the thought, and then focused her attention on the screen.
Serena was speaking. Her dirty blonde hair was swept up with a clip. From what Cristal could tell, Serena was in what looked like her bedroom.
“I was at the location as requested for my mission. The news reports have confirmed that it was the precise epicenter of the earthquake. I also confirmed that there were no early warnings as reported on the HEWS Seismic webpage. For those of you who are not familiar, HEWS is the Humanitarian Early Warning System.”
Serena glanced down at her notes.
“I have further confirmation from seismologists around the world that no one expected these earthquakes.”