Instead, I asked him something I’d been wondering about ever since he’d told me he’d been part of a government project. “Why did you get involved with the search for psi in the first place?”
“What better way to keep a secret than to be the one hunting for it?” Thurston pulled over by the restaurant.
“I’ll get the files for you. It’ll just take a minute to burn a disk.” Cheater hopped out of the car and raced up to the apartment.
“Your parents are on flight seven from Brussels, coming in at eleven PM,” Thurston said. “I assume you can find your way back to the airport.”
I started to answer, then just smiled and nodded. I guess he knew how I’d gotten Bowdler’s attention. Maybe he’d followed us the whole time. I reached out to shake his hand. His grip was firm. As we shook, he stared right in my eyes. I felt he was looking deep down inside of me, to see whether he could trust me with his secret.
The grip tightened briefly. Then he let go. “Take care of yourself, Edward.” He glanced over his shoulder to the back seat. “You fellows, too. Don’t worry. Our friend in the trunk isn’t going to be in any position to bother you again. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some documents to forge, an apartment to search, and a long drive ahead of me. After which, I suspect I’ll have to take a serious look at planning my retirement.”
We waited until Cheater came back. Then we got out of the car, and I watched Thurston drive off. As we walked into the apartment, I asked Lucky, “Did the voices ever go away?”
“Yeah. When I was with that guy at the field,” he said. “But they came back after the girl ran up to us. I hope she found her dog. She was kind of cute.”
“No she wasn’t!” Torchie shouted.
While Flinch slapped out a small fire that had burst into life on the living room table, I pulled the disrupter out of my pocket, switched it on, and put it in Lucky’s pocket, along with the remote switch. He blinked. Then his jaw dropped. He looked around, as if something had been snatched out from under his nose.
“Gone?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Good. Don’t worry. This time, they’re not coming back.”
winding down
I HAD A little time before I had to leave for the airport. “I still feel bad,” I said. “If I hadn’t been fooling around at the bank, nobody would have ever known about us.”
“Hey, it worked out fine,” Martin said. “If you hadn’t been fooling around, Lucky wouldn’t have the disrupter.”
“Any of us could have messed up,” Flinch said. “Don’t blame yourself.”
Torchie picked up his accordion and squeezed a pathetic gasp of a note from it. “I mess up all the time. My whole family does. But things come out okay. I just wish I could make some music.”
We hung out, talked, and promised to do a better job of keeping in touch. I gave Cheater money to help replace the appliances we’d fried. Cheater told Torchie he could stay with him at the apartment instead of living in that lousy hotel room while he was at accordion camp. And he told Lucky he could make him another disrupter if this one ever broke. Flinch promised to get us all front-row seats the next time he performed. The four of them said they’d bring Lucky back to the hospital since he was still feeling a little shaky about facing the world right away. We all swore we’d always be there for each other. There was no need to make another oath. Enough blood had already been spilled.
We were interrupted by a light knock. Then the door opened and Livy poked her head inside. “Hey, Dennis, is your cute friend still here?”
Five minds filled with fantasies. I’m ashamed to admit I actually briefly wondered whether I had to meet my parents’ plane, or just catch up with them after they got home. Before she could turn me into the worst son in the world, Livy walked over to Torchie, smiled, and said, “Hi. I felt bad that your accordion was broken. I know how important music is. I went to the pawn shop to look for one, but they didn’t have any. So I got you something else.” She held up a large box.
Torchie reached inside and pulled out a bagpipe. “Awesome!” he said. “Let’s figure out how to play it.”
“Cool,” Livy said.
Torchie and Livy started talking and examining the bagpipe. Flinch slipped over to the table next to Torchie and removed several magazines that had begun to smolder while I stamped out a couple small sparks that had appeared on the rug. Then Flinch came over to me and whispered, “Maybe I should add music to my act.”
“Maybe we all should.” I realized I was in no danger of missing the plane. I wasn’t the guy Livy wanted to hang out with. But apparently, neither was Torchie. After they’d chatted for a couple minutes, she walked over and tapped Martin on the shoulder.