Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story that appear in the hit syndicated TV show Dark Angel, owned and created by James Cameron. I do, however, own any and all original characters appearing here. If you wish to use them, please ask me first.

Summary: It's dinner with the Cales, and Asha comes a hairsbreadth away from discovering her brother's secret.

A/N: Broke my foot. : - ( Will put a damper on writing.

Twisted Angel

By

BRIN

 "Once the game is over the king and the pawn go back in the same box." –Italian Proverb

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Chapter 3: Dinner with the Cales

Asha uncomfortably pulled her black dress down, trying to figure out why it showed more of her legs than it had three days ago. The air of her room was thickly scented with perfume that she had spilled, mixed with the smell of nail polish, which she had also spilled. If she wasn't absolutely totally perfect then her mom would be mad at her the entire night, and that was never any fun… not that dinner with the Cales of Boringdom was ever any fun. To make things worse, "Uncle Jonas" and "Aunt Margo" were tagging along. That meant napkin-in-lap, wipe-mouth-after-every-bite-which-should-be-cut-separately manners. She hated it!

"Are you almost ready?" asked Cade from outside the door.

Asha glared at her reflection once more before grabbing a handbag from her bed and throwing open her door. "Yes, yes, I'm coming!" she said stressfully.

Cade was looking pretty nice in his new tuxedo, complete with black tie. He held the door for her, eyes twinkling with sarcasm, and followed her down the stairs. "So… you think you're going to fall for Looogan?" he held out the name annoyingly.

"Logan Cale is quite possibly the most boring boy I have ever met," snapped Asha. She looked around. "Where's Mom and Chris?"

"They already left, O Late One. I'm driving."

"Well we know what happens when you drive nowadays," she said before she could stop herself.

Cade frowned, but didn't respond to that comment. Instead, he said in a rather humbled voice, "We should get going. Don't want to make Mom look bad in front of the Cales."

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Mahogany was an upper-class restaurant in a quiet part of town. Only the richest of the rich could afford to buy more than a glass of wine there—and the Cales were not only the richest of the rich in Seattle, but also owned half the restaurant. It was decorated with mostly black iron and mahogany-colored wood (hence the name), polished and shiny. The waiters and waitresses were dressed in poofy-sleeved white silk uniforms, black aprons, and black pants.

Asha immediately felt uncomfortable as she walked into the restaurant, which she had been in once or twice before. There were many different factors to her lack of comfort, however: one was Natalie standing next to her brother, another was the prospect of seeing Logan, another was putting on her best manners for the Cales, and yet another was the idea that she might actually have to engage in conversation with one of the Cales tonight. She shivered, rubbing her arms to make it look like she was cold.

Cade tapped her on the shoulder and motioned to follow him as he began walking past the tables of expensively-dressed snobs. They seemed to have a permanent arch in their neck, making their noses stick high in the air. Asha shook her head disapprovingly at the snobby old farts who regarded her with obvious disgust and repulsion. She simply flipped her bobbed hair and walked on indifferently.

They exited the main room of the restaurant into the back room, which included a dance floor and was used for things like parties, weddings, wedding receptions, business meetings, proms, etc. Music was playing in the background; some classical song that Asha could barely stand listening to. She was more partial to rock.

"Asha!" cried a woman of her mid-fifties, rising from her seat.

"Mrs. Cale," Asha returned with a nervous grin.

Mrs. Cale was a red-faced, slightly large, and overly-friendly woman who was always willing to lend a helping hand. She had a certain innocence about her that made the whole world seem right again; like it was okay to be oblivious to reality. She wore a brightly-colored dress with pearls around her neck, her silvery hair pulled back into a bun. Her bright blue eyes peered out at the world from behind steel-framed glasses.

Asha barely held back a gasp as Mrs. Cale seized her in a tight bear hug, nearly lifting the young woman off the ground. "Nice to see you, too, Mrs. Cale," choked Asha, feeling as if her ribs had broken.

"And Cade, my dear!" Mrs. Cale placed a hand on either side of Cade's face and planted a kiss on his cheek. "You look so handsome and grown up!" She then spotted Natalie, who was standing half-hidden behind Cade's large frame. "And who is this gorgeous young woman?"

"This is Natalie," replied Cade quietly.

"I didn't know you were dating nowadays, Cade! How long have you two been seeing each other? You make an awfully cute couple." Mrs. Cale embraced Natalie in a crushing hug, and the young woman simply smiled in return.

"Quite some time," said Cade nonchalantly before moving over to the table to sit across from a man couple of years older than him. "Logan."

"Cade," returned the blue-eyed young man indifferently.

Cade held out the chair for Natalie before sitting down. She glued her eyes to the sparkling white plate, grabbing Cade's hand underneath the table as he sat down next to her.

"I don't believe I've met your friend," said Logan, standing up and offering his hand to Natalie.

"Alie, this is Logan. Logan, Natalie," replied Cade in a quiet voice.

Natalie shook hands with the older man, a polite smile resting on her lips. As he sat back down she said in her clear and musical voice, "It's very nice to meet you."

Logan broke into a wide smile. "Manchester, eh?"

"I was born there."

Asha watched the exchange carefully; suspiciously. This conversation was too… too calm, too manufactured… too planned. She sat down next to Cade and watched him carefully as he turned to whisper in Natalie's ear. As kids, Cade and Logan had hated each other. They fought, physically and verbally, and played nasty tricks on each other. Cade usually came out as the victor, unless Logan whipped out one of his rich-boy tricks. They hadn't spoken in four years (or so it seemed) and this polite exchange of greetings was way too civilized for two people who (allegedly) hated each other so much.

…And Asha didn't buy it.

The evening progressed as an evening at a sophisticated restaurant with sophisticated people would; there were lively discussions of the latest stock losses and gains, along with heated debates over the upcoming presidential election. Yep, Asha was half asleep by the time dinner finally arrived on grand silver-rimmed porcelain plates. Her head had nodded that one last time when the tantalizing smell of chicken cooked with herbs and spices not ordinarily found nowadays reached her nose. She bolted upright, pupils widening at the sight of the plate sitting before her. There was a rather large chunk of perfectly-cooked chicken, steamed vegetables such as green beans and carrots, rice, a baked potato, and a glass of white wine.

Dinner was considerably quiet for a dinner with the Cales. Asha was too busy concentrating on being a good-mannered little girl to notice anything around her, but after she had devoured about half of her chicken her attention was caught by the voice of the a man she would very much love to strangle with a scarf.

"So what do you think of those police-station raids, eh Cade, my boy?" asked the sickeningly fake voice of Uncle Jonas.

"It's a horrible thing, what with all the police do for us," replied Cade calmly. He wiped his mouth with his napkin a few times and looked at Natalie, his hand resting on her thigh underneath the table. "What about you, Alie."

Asha sat up straight, extremely curious now. First of all, she had never heard Natalie speak more than two sentences during the same five minutes. Second of all, Uncle Jonas seemed to be regarding her brother and his girlfriend with snake-like suspicious eyes. That was bad, considering Jonas practically invented the hover drones and was extremely close with the police department – especially the members of it with power.

"I think it was wrong to invade the station like that, putting such an embarrassing scar on the police department's otherwise spotless record," replied Natalie with a polite smile, batting her eyelashes innocently. "But maybe those people had a reason for it. Maybe the police have done some kind of wrong to them. Wouldn't you agree, Jonas? What, with all the reports of police abuse lately…"

Jonas was growing a little heated around the collar, his cheeks tinted red. Nonetheless, he kept his composure as he responded, "Dear Natalie, what ever do you mean?"

"Why, I think just last week one of your hover drones caught footage of a policeman beating a poor homeless woman to death. It was all over the news. Did you not catch it?" She reached up with both hands and methodically looped her locks of silky black hair behind her ears then placed both hands on the table – one on top of the other – and shifted her weight forward.

"Yes, I did see that footage… but you must understand, my dear girl, that the media takes the littlest things and blows them into the most outrageous proportions! Not all that they say is true; that woman had been harassing the officer with a gun. The officer had no choice but to defend himself and remove the gun from her possession."

"If only he could have done it without putting her in the hospital." Natalie sighed much like a pampered model would do if approached for an autograph, one of her dress straps falling down her shoulder a bit. She then hummed a little tune in that clear and musical voice of hers, looking around as if she were bored.

Jonas' jaw clamped shut and he laughed, raising his glass to her verbal victory.

Asha was mesmerized by this obvious display of mental tricks. In under three minutes, Natalie had Jonas wrapped around her pinky finger. Asha had to admit that she had been engrossed in what Natalie was saying as well, because Natalie was plainly a master at overtaking the human mind. As she spoke, she would make herself as interesting as possible with small gestures and facial expressions that were far more animated than they seemed at first glance. She also spoke in a voice so pleasant to listen to, her accent so delightful to the human ear, that one couldn't help but listen… and Asha knew that there was a reason Natalie had this skill… and it probably had something to do with her brother's secret activities…

"Asha?"

The young woman jumped, her blonde hair falling down in her eyes, and she found herself looking up at Logan. "Yes?" she responded bitterly.

"I was just heading over to the supermarket across the street. Would you like to join me?"

"No."

"How about stretching your legs for a bit?"

Asha turned herself in her chair so that she was facing him and stretched her legs out before her. "Done."

"Asha!" scolded Mrs. Thompson from a few chairs down. She narrowed her eyes at her daughter.

The young blonde groaned and took a deep breath to calm herself. "Okay. Fine. I'll come with you, Logan."

A smile broke out on his clean-shaven face. "Alright! I'll grab your coat for you." He turned to leave, but before he could, a voice interrupted,

"I think we'll tag along."

Logan turned around and provided Cade a feigned grin. "Oh… okay. I can only fit two in my car, so you'll have to take your own."

Asha looked between her brother and Logan, then stepped between them. "I'll ride with Cade and Natalie."

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The ride across the street was actually utterly pointless, since they could've walked faster then dealing with all the traffic of going directly across a four-lane road. But the four of them were all dressed up and it wouldn't do to return to the restaurant covered in grime. When they arrived, Logan was waiting by the front door.

"I need to get some toothpaste and shaving cream for my apartment," announced Logan as they went inside.

"Hm… I need some too. I think I'll come with," replied Cade. He kissed Natalie on the cheek and continued, "You girls do whatever girls do. We'll be right back."

Asha was in total shock as her brother and Logan walked away like good friends. Her jaw dropped open with an audible creak, then she nearly gasped as she realized that she was left with Natalie. Alone.

"Come on, squirt. I have to get some treats for my cat," said Natalie, smiling like they, too, were good old friends.

"Uhh… sure…" Asha shrugged and followed Natalie towards the pet section… but when they reached the middle of the store she stopped and looked back to where Cade and Logan had disappeared.

This was all too perfect.

It was way too planned.

And Asha still wasn't buying it.

Making sure that Natalie wasn't looking, she slipped over to the section where Logan and Cade would be. They weren't there… Suspicious. She poked around the aisles, peeking through the gaps between the aisles to see where they were. After a small eternity, she spotted them standing behind the two swinging doors that led to the storage area. She could feel the adrenaline building up in her veins. Her mind was screaming questions, and she knew that the events of the past two weeks had built up to this crucial moment… There was no way in hell she was going to miss it, so she slid over to stand to the side of the door and listened.

"Do you have the papers?" Logan was asking.

"Of course. You owe me for this one; I almost got nabbed last week," said Cade.

There was the ruffling of fabric and papers as Cade pulled the items in question from his pocket and gave them to Logan, who put them in his pocket.

"This'll give me the evidence I need to clear up the Randall vs. the State of Washington case I've been working on… also enough information to give the first broadcast," continued Logan.

"When're you going to do it?"

"Three weeks exactly, at 9:00 P.M. You'll be watching?"

"Wouldn't miss the downfall of the bastards who call themselves lawmen," replied Cade, his voice thick with venomous hatred.

"Alright. Let's go before Asha suspects something."

Asha's eyes widened and she turned to run away, only to come face to face with—

Natalie. A very, very angry Natalie at that. The doors opened and there was some confused shouting from Cade and Logan, then something sharp pricked Asha's arm and she slowly sank to the floor, enveloped in blackness.

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The next thing Asha was aware of, she was sitting on the couch in the women's bathroom of Mahogany. Several women were staring at her, and she said in a drowsy voice, "What happened?"

"We came in here and you were asleep, dear. Are you okay?" said one of them, feeling Asha's forehead with a chilly palm.

"I'm fine," replied the teen, standing up. She brushed herself off, muttered a 'thank you' to the women, and returned to the table. Cade, Logan, and Natalie were back in their seats. Dessert was being served.

"Asha! There you are. You came back from the store so tired and said you were going to the bathroom!" said Mrs. Cale, her face tight with worry. "Natalie was just about to go look for you, you poor thing."

Asha narrowed her eyes at her brother, his girlfriend, and the college student. There was no way she had said that! She remembered being knocked unconscious by a shot! Making a sour face at her brother, the young woman sat down and pouted the rest of the meal. Despite her curiosity, she knew it wasn't the time or place to discuss it… but sooner or later, she would make them tell her what was going on… or she'd find out for herself.


TBC…

A/N: The theme song for this story is going to be You get Me by Michelle Branch. I'll add lyrics to the beginning of every chapter ^_^