Julian dropped his plate and silverware into the sink. He turned on the hot water tap and began looking for soap.
"What are you doing?" Blonde asked, sounding a bit amused.
"The dishes." Julian found the bottle and added the cleaner to the water.
"You're not a servant."
"What I am is bored." Julian reached out to take the empty plate from her hand. "So if it's okay with you, I'm gonna clean."
"Save it for later." Dark Hair entered the room. "You have something else to do right now." She jerked her head, motioning Julian to leave the room.
She led him down the hall to a closed door.
"Come in." The voice answered her knock.
She nodded at Julian before walking away.
"Hello Julian." The voice came from behind a chair, the back facing the door. "Do come in, close the door."
Julian did as he was told. "Please, come and sit." A hand motioned to a chair across from him.
Julian walked over to the chair but didn't sit down. He looked the older man in the eye as firmly as he could, a act that received a small smile in return.
The older man stood up, extending a hand. "My name is Edouard Kagame and I'm very pleased to meet you Mr Randol."
Julian shook the offered hand.
"Now then, please. sit." Kagame warmly. "I'm sure you have questions."
"A few."
"Ask me anything."
"And you'll answer."
"Of course."
"All right. Let's start with how you know who I am and how you pulled off that trick with pay phone."
"As for who you are, I make it my business to know about the people who are victims of the corporations I take issue with. I've found over the years that people tend to talk. Your father was mentioned more than once. Both the stealing of his family's farm, and his meetings. I had intended to approach him directly but circumstances have prevented that. You were also brought to my attention.
"And telephone, that was hardly the magic it seemed. One of my contacts spotted you wandering down the street and called me. He knew the number of the pay phone so I called. Simple as that.
"Anything else you'd like to know?"
"Where are my shoes?"
"Your shoes?"
"Yeah. My shoes. Your soldiers picked me up, bought me dinner, possibly drugged me, and then put me in the back of a van with no windows. Drove me around for I don't know how long before I fell asleep. And when I woke up I was in my underwear and my stuff, including my jacket and my shoes, were gone."
"I assure you"
"And I assure you, Mr Kagame, that I might not be a genius like my stepbrother, but I'm stupid. I get it. I was in that house with two cops, shit was going down. It was falling apart around us. You didn't know what they might have said or done. You didn't know if they bugged me, or turned me, or whatever. You couldn't risk me knowing who I was with, where I was. You couldn't risk me sneaking out in the middle of the night to tell the cops how to find you. But if I'd really wanted to get out, taking my shoes and my jacket wouldn't have stopped me. It's been almost three weeks. Don't you agree that it's time for a little trust?"
Kagame's smile grew to a full grin as he applauded. "Well done. And you are correct. Our methods are, as you know, not completely legal under current law and we have to take precautions. I had Travis check your belongings for tracking devices. As for keeping you here, we needed you to stay out of sight until the police had something to distract them from looking for a young lost soul. I'm sorry Sonya didn't simply explain the situation to you. Please know that Sonya and the others have only the best interest of myself and our cause in mind. I'm certain no personal offense was intended."
"Whatever, it's cool."
"I am very impressed at your awareness, your perception. You are more definitely not stupid."
"Tell that to my teachers." Julian rolled his eyes.
"I wouldn't trouble yourself with the judgment of the public school system. Their methods, their motivations are woefully pathetic. They occupy themselves with creating robots that spew forth mountains of contextless facts to pass tests that prove nothing. They don't care to prove students with any practical knowledge or even teach them how to think. And they certainly don't care about letting students learn what they're interested in, what they're passionate about. You're better off on your own. And with computers and the Internet"
"Gross," Julian shuddered. "You sound like my stepbrother."
"Your stepbrother?"
"When my dad and Ann got married he told me to be nice to Alec. To try to understand that he wasn't ready to face the truth, he needed time. And I tried. I tried to forget that Alec and I were only brothers by marriage. But Alec wasn't interested in being family. Mr "I graduated high school when i was 13 cause I have a freaky high IQ" walked around sneering at us. Him and his stupid loft with the padlocks and the spy cameras, acting like he was some kind of superhero doing his 'important work' that was going to save the world. So important he couldn't be bothered with listening to anyone, anyone that might have a clue about how the real world works. He despised us so much he wouldn't even eat at the same table. He'd just grab some food and run back to his lair and his 'work'. Joke is he was probably just playing video games and looking at porn."
Julian stopped short, realizing what he'd said. "Sorry."
"I fear I've touched on a nerve."
"No. Maybe. A little."
"Well, now you've gotten it off your chest and I've had an demonstration of your passion. Passion, which with your mind and current technology we will mold to the correct uses." Kagame smiled. "But your rant does bring up an important question. You have, it would seem, little need for your legal family, but what of they about you. After all the police aren't the only means to search for someone."
"I told you, Alec doesn't care one way or the other about me. Other than having twice the chores to do he's probably thrilled I'm gone."
"And your stepmother?"
"Ann was nice enough. She even stood up to my dad when he almost hit me, really torn into him over that. But that was before. Now she blames me for him getting killed and she has Alec and the farm to take care of. She doesn't have the time or the money even if she did care."
Kagame stood up, gesturing to Julian to join him. He led Julian down the hall and into the common room where the others were gathered.
"Well then I think its time you meet your new family. Sonya is our chemist and medical expert. Lucas is our resident engineer and computer geek- try not to hold that against him. And you know Jazmine and Travis our tactical experts."
"Hey." No one replied.
"You can learn a lot from each of us, Julian. I think rather than dictating what we will teach you, what your part in all of this will be, you should decide what you want."
"Are you for real?"
"Very." Kagame nodded. "Travis get the boy his things. Now why don't take a walk, get some fresh air. You've been cooped up in here for far too long. And while you're out there, think about what you feel you can contribute, what you want to learn, who you want to be."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that. We'll talk about your ideas after dinner."
Kagame nodded as Travis returned with Julian's boots and his jacket. He watched as Julian quickly pulled his things on and disappeared outside.
"Lucas."
Lucas pulled a small box, the size of a smart phone out of his pocket. "It's got a range of 100 yds. He'll never see anyone following him."
"Jazmine." She took the box and left.
"You sure about this kid?" Sonya cut in. "That he's who you say he is."
"If everything goes according to plan, he will be."
"And if it doesn't. If he doesn't become this great leader, this role model for the future you, for the future all of us. "
"If it doesn't then young Julian will be still useful. As a scapegoat." Kagame paused, daring Sonya to respond. "in fact, Julian may prove to have already been useful to us.
"It seems he has a stepbrother. A very very smart stepbrother with an obsession over computers. Named Alec."
"You're not saying?"
"Yes Sonya, I may have tapped a nerve and struck gold." Kagame smiled, as if he'd just eaten the canary.