Part seventeen

Looking for where the bodies lie buried

Sebastian bobbed his head. Not like he could do much else, either, even though right now he felt like spinning around and laughing like a madman. He settled for a jaw spreading grin and closed his eyes in relief. He had already feared he would have to take the matter into his own hands. The only problem was that he couldn't use those and frankly, looking for someone to do the dirty jobs implied way too many dangers and unknown factors. He hated those. But he loved figuring things out and the work of the last three days had finally yielded the results he had hoped for.

As far as he knew Logan, it would have taken either someone to turn him in or an incredible stroke of bad luck to lead to the demise presented in the news. The man had always liked things well planned and Sebastian couldn't bring himself to think that his friend had changed into a moron overnight. A depressed, despondent, suicidal slob at times, but having survived to tell about the terrible times he had been through, there was just no way he would throw Eyes Only away through carelessness. Not now anyway, when things got tough and Eyes Only was needed. After all, Sebastian had called him just a day before everything blew up, letting him know they were on his tail and he had promised to skip town as soon as possible.

The three lines Sebastian could see on his computer screen were the reason for his elation. The address where extremely expensive voice distortion equipment had been delivered. Not in an one piece delivery, mind you, just the most important part. It had taken full of three days to search for recent sales of electronic devices someone would need to set up Eyes Only again. He had done it partly because he wanted to be informed if he would have to set up things himself, partly because he fervently hoped he wouldn't need to. And anyway, it wasn't like he had much else to do with his time, either.

Sebastian had very soon become lost in the maze of bulk online orders, different delivery companies and even overseas shipment. Most of the pieces he had searched for he had lost trace of in the incredibly convoluted operations. The delivery chain included at times even several nonidentifiable customers. But this time he had hit the jackpot. No, the person or persons ordering had made no mistake, it probably wasn't the last shipment place either, just the one before the last.

This one address Sebastian knew as if it had been his own. Not likely he would ever forget Logan's and his college friend in San Francisco, nor the way he had died 6 years ago. He tried in vain to chase away the bitter memories, concentrating on the good news. Yes! Logan had always been the best for the job and the last events could only prove that. He was alive and kicking, literally.

But memories couldn't be switched off at will, even if he wished for it with all his might, sometimes even praying they could have been erased with the rest of his bodily functions. He just couldn't wipe it away, neither the night they had met Chad in a Yale campus bar, nor the day, several years later, when Logan had come over in a fit of anger, dead set to bring Eyes Only into existence.

Flashback

***********

"Yes father, I know."

"No, you are not right, but you don't believe me anyway."

Too late, he hung up.

My dorm room in Yale is the perfect place to sulk. Dad has just chewed me out on the phone, for the hundredth time this month. Our company had lost almost everything in the aftermath of the pulse, being that we dealt in computer hardware. For some warped reason dad blames me. He always does that, nothing I can ever achieve being good enough for him. Not as long as I'm just a computer geek, running away from the wealthy socialites my parents always surround themselves with.

I have always had a hard time dealing with people, a computer is so much more predictable. It can't hurt you, can't talk back or even yell and in the end it can only do what you tell it to do, never more. I just don't like people that much, so what? As long as I have managed to rebuild the company from its ashes, change its profile from the hardware parts my father had started with to software, I think I have paid my dues to society and to my family as well. If only I could make that clear to my dad. Probably not anytime soon.

That's what I'm good at, programming, even hacking, but I would never admit to that. Not to my father, who today told me again he wished I were more like Logan. Handsome rogue, adventurous, women lying at his feet. Like Logan of all people. Logan who had one day found me hacking and made fun of me weeks after. The same Logan who - once the picking and the jokes got old - asked me to show him how to do it. He probably just wanted to show off with it.

Our families have known each other since we were kids, now Logan and I are in Yale together, he a senior, I a sophomore. But we never got along too well. He enjoys his life as handsome rich boy and all the advantages he can draw from that position. I hate my wealth, consider it a burden and even despise Logan a bit for his carelessness.

"Seb ? You ready?"

"Stop calling me that!"

Logans's head pops in, disturbing my sulking. He really is the last person I want to see right now or anytime soon for that matter. I pretend to be booting my computer, but I run out of luck. It isn't booting.

Logan looks on from behind me, grinning widely.

"No more excuses. You're coming with me now."

"Don't you have some chick to be with?"

"I might, but first I want to talk to you over a glass of wine."

Wine. He knows I hate wine.

"We can talk here, I don't need wine."

"Well, I do, my mouth is too dry to talk right now."

"Then we can postpone it. I'll be here tomorrow."

Not like I can hide. No chance. He grabs my arm and drags me with him.

"Stop being a bore and just come."

I sigh and go with him. He probably feels like it is a good day for his monthly charitable action. To top it all, my state of the art computer gives up its ghost just in time for his plan. He probably did something to it. I'll have to check when I get back tonight. Well, more like tomorrow morning, the way I know Logan.

We're headed for Logan's usual club on campus and indeed, it takes him only minutes to spot a gorgeous blonde and drag her to the dance floor, leaving me behind with a pitcher of beer I don't want to drink and no clue as to what he wanted to talk about. Probably nothing anyway.

The usual nitpicks from the guys at the other tables start little after.

"That beer warm enough for you?"

"If you hold it any tighter it could start to writhe and moan."

I'm used to it. Logan probably suspects something because he interrupts his dance and heads for our table with the blonde. But he is still far away when Tom, a huge football player, plants himself in front of me and in his drunken drawl offers his assistance:

"Methinks the boy needs some help with his beer."

A second later the warm beer is pouring in my lap. I jump up, but before I can respond, Tom's large bulk lands a few yards away in a heap and a tall brown haired guy, quite young looking, seats himself at the table as if nothing had happened.

"Hi, I'm Chad. That guy was obstructing my view. I'm sorry, hope I didn't interrupt your discussion."

He has a crooked grin on his face and moments later he moves over for Logan and his blonde of the night.

"Daphne, may I present, Sebastian and...."

"Chad".

"Chad then. I'm Logan, very pleased to meet you. Nice punch, by the way."

Around us half the club is staring but Chad and Logan start a discussion, Daphne and me soon join in, the event of the night quickly forgotten.

***********

It had been the beginning of a wonderful friendship, a very unlikely one, considering our totally different backgrounds and characters. But Chad had been uncomplicated, serious or boisterous, as the circumstances required it. Soon he had become indispensable, to both Logan and me. We wouldn't go out together much. It was mostly either Logan and him on a mad club spree or Chad and me in some crazy discussion of the world order.

Chad had been studying Comparative literature, but he was absolutely nothing like any of us. He didn't have a penny to his name and yet he had enrolled for a major he would probably die of malnutrition with. He didn't care. He had been an uncanny mixture of an idealist and a rogue. Either way, life was a lot more fun with him around and Logan and I had started to get along better, too. Good times, now long gone.

*

So, Logan, it could only be him, had been using Chad's San Francisco address to get humpty together again. Well, well, Chad would have been proud.

Sebastian saved the address and pursed his lips. He didn't allow himself to think about the past much, about the times when - even though a computer geek - he could run around without hindrance. Chad belonged to that past. The things that had happened 2016 in San Francisco were a lot more terrible than just his health problems. That was probably why he had adjusted rather well to being a quadriplegic. He hadn't been too active, before, either. Except for that one time when Chad and him had set out on a story together, leaving Logan out of it since he had been too angry about his break up with Valerie to care about anything else. The result had been total chaos and Sebastian hated to remember it.