Side by side in silence they wish for different worlds.
She dreams him as a boy and he loves her as a girl.
Loves her as a girl. And side by side in silence without
a single word it's the loudest sound, it's the loudest sound,
it's the loudest sound I ever heard.


- The Cure


Chapter Seven
Closed Hearts


Monday
1430 hours

"C'mon Jane, hurry up will yah?" Neil shouted out the passenger seat of a luxury sedan honking the horn.

Ryan and Neil were waiting outside the Four Seasons Hotel, a hotel that the Council so graciously provided rooms for since the Deep Eyes were going to be staying in Seattle for a few weeks.

After they found out that Courtney wanted to meet Ryan at this new restaurant, in downtown Seattle they decided to go out in style, and since getting the keys to the car was out of the question they decided to 'borrow' the car instead.

Neil glanced at his digital watch and sighed, "God, she's been in there for half an hour. What's taking her so long?"

Neil was wearing a leather jacket and a black long-sleeved shirt with dockers, hair slicked back and off to the side, while Ryan wore black khakis and a gray tee-shirt.

"Heh, if you think this is bad trying living in a house with three sisters and one bathroom."

Neil gave him a bewildered look and asked, "You had that many girls under one roof?"

"Yeah well, I had a younger brother too, but since I was the oldest they would all pick on me. I mean, one time they had this sleep over and all the girls though it would be funny if they gave me a makeover with colored markers, well it turns out the ink was permanent, so the next day at school all the kids called me, Bozo the Clown."

Neil chuckled lightly and reminisced, "Ah....memories....kinda reminds me of the time when I would terrorize my older brothers."

"Damn, I bet you were a little shithead when you were a kid!"

"Yeah, I was always taking stuff apart and putting it back together. The only problem was when I put something back together it never did work properly after that. I mean, my Mother went through three toasters, two coffee pots, and one curling iron."

Ryan laughed, "Guess your Mother didn't believe in spankings because if I was you I would learn my lesson the first time."

"Oh she did, I just never got caught because I would always blame it on them. Guess she thought I was an innocent little angel or something."

"Riiight." Ryan chuckled, shaking his head.

"I'm serious man!"

Suddenly Ryan gave a low whistle, staring out the window, Neil, curious, followed suit
and uttered, "Whoa...."

Jane was wearing a black, low cut, dress that went above her knees, complimenting her psychic. The straps were off to the and for the first time she had her hair down. There was no other word for it, Jane looked hot.

Ryan elbowed Neil, causing him to quickly close his mouth.

"Soooo, are we going?" Jane asked with a raised eyebrow.

'Um, yeah. Yeah, were going." They both stammered.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


They pulled up to the restaurant to find Courtney waiting outside the front door wearing a red dress with spaghetti straps. As soon as she saw them, she waved and began walking towards them.

"Hey baby, I missed you." She whispered as she gave Ryan a deep kiss.

Neil and Jane didn't talk the whole way to the restaurant, and seeing the two kiss they momentarily glanced off to the side, a little embarrassed.

Courtney finally broke the kiss, noticing an awkward looking Neil and Jane, and asked, "Why don't you introduce me to that lovely couple over there?"

"What? Oh no, no. Were not a--a couple." Jane stuttered, blushing a bright red.

"What are you kidding me?" Neil commented, laughing nervously.

"So I take it you two are just friends?' She asked with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Um, yeah. Were just-'

"friends."

"Yeah, what he said."

"Uh-huh," Courtney commented with a disbelieving look.

Ryan swung his arm around Courtney and chuckled, "You'll have to excuse Courtney. She's a hopeless romantic."

Courtney glared at him and said, "Excuse me? I thought you were supposed to be taking my side."

"You don't need a side."

"Hey!"

'What I meant was, let's go inside. Did I ever tell you I love you?'

"Asshole." Courtney replied with a playful grin.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


"How are you holding up Aki?"

Aki, startled, looked up from her cup of coffee to find Dr. Sid giving her a faint smile.

"Fine, well I guess things could be better. Um, have you heard anything from the Council?"

"Not yet."

Aki gave a weak laugh, "You know, it's funny, we were able to overcome one threat and now I feel like were facing another. It scares me almost."

"Don't worry. Whatever happens we'll make it through," Doctor Sid replied as he gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder.

Aki smiled, then suddenly frowned, as she saw a council member hurrying down the hallway with today's paper.

"I wouldn't say that just yet Doctor," he stated as he flipped the paper open.

In bold letters the headlines read: "A CONSPIRACY BREWING IN THE HEART OF THE COUNCIL! MORE DETAILS REVEALED AT 5 PM ON WNN!"

Aki grabbed the paper, and scanned the article, as she whispered faintly, "Oh my god..."

"Council woman Hee thought it would be best to start the meeting now. I already sent someone to retrieve the Deep Eyes."

As soon as he said this a soldier appeared, running swiftly down the hallway. He saluted them and stated, "Sir, the Deep Eyes are missing and your car was stolen."


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


1500 hours

Ryan and Courtney were seated next to each other while Neil and Jane sat across from them. They were having drinks in the lounge and the aroma of cigarettes perfumed the air. The place was crowded and the distinct sound of laughter was heard in the background.

"It's nice that you live close by." Jane commented, sipping her wine.

'Yeah, well I originally lived in San Francisco but we decided to move after the, you know, barrier failed."

Courtney said this with a pained look on her face while Ryan squeezed her hand for comfort.

"Those were some hard times," Ryan said.

Courtney took another drink of her martini, and muttered, "Well, I'm just glad that it's all over."

A look of concern suddenly crossed Neil's face.

Ryan seemed to notice this and asked, "What's wrong Neil?"

"I don't know. For some reason I feel like this is just the beginning."

Ryan raised his glass and replied, "You and me both."

Without warning the noise quickly died down in the room. Neil, curious, turned around in his seat to find everyone staring at the television set. The program was the World News Network and Neil instantly recognized the news anchor as the man who appeared at the press conference.

"This just in, General Hein was responsible for the Phantom attacks on New York City! A massacre that the Council originally stated was the result of a barrier failure, but as your about to witness, the blood-shed was actually the result of a conspiracy within our very own government system!"


"Um, I think we should leave," Neil said as he quickly got up.

"Alright, I'll go pay the bill. You guys go wait in the car," Ryan said as he hurried to the front desk.

"What's going on?" Courtney asked, clearly un-nerved.

No one cared to respond as Neil and Jane both knew they had to get out of the restaurant, and fast.

Jane got up and took one last glimpse of the television set to see her face on screen as the reporter said in a loud, clear voice, "It also seems that the Deep Eyes, our own police force I might add, was also behind the conspiracy.....in fact if you see these people........."

Jane quickly looked away not wanting to hear the rest, and suddenly felt like she was being watched. As she glanced around the room she noticed several people were staring at them with angry, accusing eyes. Some of them were even whispering to each other, and Jane could vaguely make out, "Is that them?" and "Were not going to let them leave are we?"

A man got up and shouted, "How does it feel to kill someone, huh?! Or is a million just a statistic to you bastards?!"

Neil whispered to Jane and Courtney, "Let's go."

More people got up out of their chairs, and one person smashed his bottle on the table creating a sharp like weapon.

"They're going to fucking kill us!" Courtney whispered, her voice rising in panic, as they slowly came towards them.