Disclaimer: Not mine
Run
Johanne cleared his throat uncomfortably and clicked a button on the vid-phone. Immediately, a gruff voice spoke up.
"Johanne. We're waiting for those results that you promised. You said your people made a breakthrough on the genetic structure of the plant. The boss isn't too happy with you," the voice intoned.
"I-I…I am having pr-problems getting the information from them," Johanne said nervously.
"The boss'll send someone down."
"NO! I mean, I can handle it. They've got to finalize it in a report but they haven't started on that so…so…uhh…I'll get them started on th-that." Johanne glanced up at his stunned scientists.
The voice cut through his thoughts. "Is there someone else in the room?"
Johanne's look became more agitated. The voice almost growled before cutting away. The dial tone replaced the voice. The silence ensued with deafening proportions and Johanne could only shuffle his papers around nervously.
Alexander and Bruce stared. They were drowning. The silence seemed to suck them up. Johanne put down his stack of papers and looked back up at them, their files flitting under the waves of air-conditioning. For a few moments, that was the only sound that filled the room.
"I…" Both Alexander and Bruce watched Johanne carefully. "I…I suppose you have a few questions for me?"
Alexander's eyes became large with disbelief. "Questions?" he hissed sarcastically. "You think we have questions for you? Why would you ever think that? Questions? Of all things… questions?"
Bruce put a calming hand on the arm of his friend. Nonchalantly, he walked over to Johanne's desk and began to speak, with nothing giving away his inner turmoil.
"The weather today. It's nice, isn't it? Sunny, a few clouds…oyster in color. That's what my wife would say. But that can change so quickly. Think about it. Hurricanes, typhoons, fires…a lot of death right there." Bruce paused for the slight dramatic effect. No one moved. "Did you ever think about how weather can affect our lives? How it can maybe kill us or keep us alive? If you keep that in mind, since the weather really is Mother Nature, then you realize that yes, Mother Nature has the awesome ability to kill us. Right?" No one moved. "That just reinforces the samurai ideals of so long ago, doesn't it? Live like you're dead. Because death is always near. But some consider death like waking up. Samurais might have been right it that respect. We all believe in an afterlife, don't we? At least those of us in this room. So what's to fear of death if we're just going to have a better life?"
Johanne shifted uncomfortably.
"What's wrong Johanne? Does death scare you? And yet, when it does, you still communicate with the syndicate, of all things. I don't think you realize that the death which you so fear just finished a phone call with you. Don't you see it? Death, Johanne, death…" Bruce motioned to Alexander and himself. "Why do you have these connections and dealings with the syndicate that bring us into it?"
"You wouldn't understand Bruce. This is politics. I…I have to do this. There isn't any way around it."
Bruce backed away and sighed. His dramatic posture and affections had faded like clouds.
"I'm sure there is Johanne. I'm sure there is."
With that, both Alexander and Bruce left the room, the door clicking softly behind them.
Silence pervaded the lab in which the two men were working in. The plant sat in smugly in front of them, its tufted bits hanging precariously from intricately entwined branches of sickly green.
Besides the Drs. Spiegal and Valentine, the lab remained empty. Their work concentrated on one of the tufted bits. Various chemicals sat out in front of them, with names unreadable to even the most learned of men. Their work was un-detailed, systematic, not their usual degree of excellence. They would write something on a top piece of paper, formulate a procedure to follow it, execute the procedure, see it fail and then start all over.
Obviously, their hearts weren't in it.
"Your Mother Nature speel was…interesting. I didn't see it coming." Alexander said, his voice muffled slightly by the safety mask worn around his face.
Bruce's snort sounded through his mask. "I was just relating the complexity of this plant to why we can't figure it out. It's Mother Nature, you know? She'll always know more than we do. Always…I guess I never made that clear, did I?"
Alexander chuckled slightly as he shook his head. "I think you really sent both of us for a loop when you related it all to death and samurais. Weird, you know?"
Bruce grinned beneath his mask. "I can't even begin to imagine. I mean, we know how scared he is of dying. Remember the scare he had with Creutzfeld-Jacobs Disease?"
"Yeah. Thought he had it because he was near a foaming dog."
The two chuckled before solemnly getting back to their not-so-heartened work. A few hours later, their work was done. The two packed up their lab work. Unstable Petri dishes held isolated amounts of the tufted portions. Securing them with a small band, the two men headed out of the lab, their minds heavy with the syndicate secret.
When the two reached the parking lot, they spoke for a few minutes before parting.
"Well?" Bruce asked. Alexander knew right away what of.
"I think we're screwed. We have to find out the structure so we can find out what it does and how to counteract it. Otherwise, we'll have a syndicate on our ass." Bruce nodded shortly in agreement.
"Won't we be a happy group?"
"Hmph. What do you think'll happen if we don't find anything soon? Johanne already has them assuming that we've found everything out."
"I guess we'll find out soon, won't we?"
"Yeah…Do you want to meet up later on? Like three weeks from now for dinner? My house this time?"
Bruce nodded again. "The families need to be told…well, at least the wives."
With a silent handshake, the two men parted company, their thoughts dwelling on their role in this game of chance.
Three weeks later
"Hey Faye!"
"Hi Spike!"
"Do you want me to walk you home?"
"Yes please. I'm still not used to it."
"I know. Here. Hold my hand. Why are you walking home today? Doesn't your mom usually pick you up?"
"Yeah. But she's busy today getting ready for when you guys come over. It's been a long time since I've held your hand!"
"I know. You're a big girl now, remember?"
"Yup! But daddy tells me I'm still small."
"I'm sure he does."
"He does!"
"Really?...So, where are your sisters…or your brother?"
"They all had to stay after school. What about your sisters?"
"Same."
"Oh…Guess what I learned in school today!"
"What?"
"No! You're supposed to guess!"
"Uhhh…you learned the alphabet?"
"No, you lunkhead! We learned that last year!"
"Ummm…math?"
"Yeah!...How come you guessed so quickly?"
"I'm just so smart like that. What exactly did you learn about in math?"
"It's called…uhhh…add-d-d…uhhh. I forgot."
"Addition?"
"Yeah! I thought it was easy!"
"That's good."
…
"Hey Spike?"
"Hm?"
"Why is there a man in a black suit staring at you through a telescope?"
…
"That's not a telescope."
It's a gun.
"Mrs. Valentine! Mrs. Valentine!"
"Mommy! Mommmmmmyyyyyy!"
Lilliancame running outside the side door that connected the kitchen to the yard, wringing her wet hands on a dish towel.
"Faye? Spike? What's wrong?" Her gray eyes searched the two children and when nothing wrong was found there, moved on behind them to see if there was any trouble.
Nothing.
"Spike was screaming so I screamed," Faye answered simply. She let go of Spike's hand and climbed up the stairs into the kitchen.
"Spike?"
"Me an' Faye were walking home and she pointed out this guy—this huge guy dressed in black, you know, like the mobster movie guys—and he had a gun! An' it was pointed straight at us! I didn't tell Faye it was a gun but—…Mrs. Valentine? Are you okay?" Spike peered at the pale Lillian Valentine, who stood staring at him with wide eyes.
"A gun?"
"Uh-huh."
Lillian shot forward, grabbing Spike's hand and dragging him inside. She released her grip on him in the kitchen before turning around and locking both the screen door and wooden door. The phone was in her hands in a few seconds, dialing the number of her best friend Adelaide.
"Hello? Adelaide Spiegal speaking."
"Adelaide! Oh my gosh—"
"Lillian? Are you okay?"
"Someone tried to shoot Spike and Faye!"
"Ummm…Mrs. Valentine? They didn't try to shoot us. They were just pointing a gun at us." Spike made sure to say it loud enough so his mom could hear. Her screech on the other end of the phone could still be heard after his statement. He supposed that even though the people hadn't shot them, she was still scared. Just a little.
"Do you think you can go get the other kids from school Adelaide? I have Spike and Faye with me. Nothing will happen."
"Yes, I'll go right now. I'll be over there soon enough."
The phone went dead.
"What?" Alexander stared at the host of people in his living room. The wives had just related the story to them and he didn't know what to do.
"There were people with guns…wanting to shoot at our kids?"
Spike sighed. All they did was have the gun pointed at them. They never really shot anybody.
"Yes, Alexander. But we don't know why! We've called the police and they sent someone over to log the report but…why?"
"I don't know. Adelaide, is Bruce coming?"
"Yes. He'll be here soon. What are we going to do about the kids? I would walk around with each of them and fend off any guns but there happen to be too many of them," Adelaide quipped, motioning to the kids. Her light tone was returning.
"Well," Lillian began. "The cop said it was probably just a random incident. As in, the guy probably had nothing to do with the family. He was just there looking for someone else."
Adelaide nodded. "It makes sense. I mean, why would someone be after Spike and Faye?"
Brev spoke up. "Can I talk, mama?" Adelaide nodded.
"Well, I was watchin' this movie in class today…It was called like Rush Hour or something…really, really old… and this guy, like, kidnapped the kid of the boss guy because he wanted to, like, hit the boss hard. Get it? So maybe, the gun guy was tryin' to get to, like...uh…someone." Silence followed the statement. Brev looked around nervously. She quietly retracted her statement.
"I was just jokin'."
Adelaide took charge and instructed the children. "Brev, Quietus. Take the kids outside. Yell if anything happens."
A scuttle ensued where Brev and Quietus rounded up their siblings and led them outside.
"Just tell us when you're done, okay?" Quietus said to his parents. They nodded in affirmation.
A few moments passed. Lillian's eyes strayed to her husband, who looked worried, pulling once or twice on his burgundy tie. There was a knock at the door. Alexander moved to it and after checking, opened the door. Bruce stood there with a harried look on his face. He was about to step in when Alexander held out his hand to stop him, leaned forward and whispered into Bruce's ear.
Bruce's eyes widened dramatically.
Alexander stepped aside and let Bruce in. He locked the door after him.
"Lillian, Adelaide. There's something Bruce and I have to tell you. Johanne is involved with the syndicate."
Two deep breaths were taken.
"And the project we've been working on is for the syndicate."
"Oh my God," The wives muttered in unison.
It all made sense now.
The four worked in the kitchen together, talking the whole situation out. The children were all safely accounted for and upstairs.
"—and he was talking to the syndicate! So Bruce goes all crazy on him about samurais and nature and stuff and then we leave. We go to work on our research and then…well…we came home," Alexander finished lamely.
"Do you think that the syndicate people could be on to you so quickly? I mean…it's only been a few hours, tops, and they've already targeted our kids?" Adelaide questioned.
"Well, darling," Bruce smiled as his wife rolled her eyes. "…the syndicate is known to act quickly. Plus, I think this is just a warning of some type. I highly doubt that they'd shoot us or anything…our kids especially."
"I don't know. I wouldn't put it past them," Alexander said.
"I agree with Bruce. They're human too. I wouldn't kill children, no matter whose they were," Lillian countered.
Alexander continued, "But that's you. Some people really are ruthless. They trained a gun on our children. Pulling a trigger isn't that hard."
There was a stop in the flow of conversation, filled only by the muffled laughter of their respective children.
Bruce broke the silence. "So, Alexander. What're you going to do about those samples?"
The man shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe put them in the sunlight where I can see their reaction to heat. I guess here would be best." Alexander motioned to the tabletop in the kitchen, near the window.
"You are not leaving your experiments in my kitchen mister." With her hands on her hips and a sauce-covered spoon in her hand, Lillian looked quite forbidding.
"Fine, fine. I'll go set them outside, where Faye could eat them or some poor, unsuspecting animal could, even though you would be here in the kitchen at all times watching the kids so no one messes with the Petri dish," Alexander turned to his wife a flashed her a gallant smile. "Right?"
Anyone could see how Lillian wavered in her resolve, as her thoughts turned to her children or an unsuspecting animal eating away at the puffy substance. She broke. Funerals in the garden were not her thing.
"Fine! Put your stupid experiment there! Ugh. This is why I should have married a lawyer."
"Ah shit."
It was three days after the incident with the gun and Lillian stood in her kitchen, having just triumphed in her battle with lid of her food processor. There had been a minor hiccup, however, that stole from the glory of the win. The contents of the food processor were now decorating Lillian, the tabletops, walls, ceiling and much, much more.
Licking some carrot sauce off of her fingers (it needed more brown sugar anyways), Lillian set to cleaning up her mess. That was, of course, until she saw that her carrot sauce had landed in her husband's experiment.
And being one to never swear, Lillian did.
Lifting the Petri dish up in her hands, Lillian surveyed the tufts from the bottom, watching agonizingly as the carrot sauce surrounded the tufts. She couldn't take it anymore. Lillian set the dish down and began to clean up her kitchen, mentally cursing her mother for ever creating a recipe that had to do with carrots, Chinese herbs and brown sugar.
Sorry for the long wait, everyone! I've been busy with college apps and never got around to this fic. Hopefully all my classes will slow down now (highly doubtful, but I can hope) and I'll be able to write more.
Many discrepancies regarding this fiction. I have so many problems with the earlier chapters that it's not even funny. I just…ugh…I need to change them. And I will! But later…
As for not being able to thank you all, I will be sending you guys thank you messages and for the anonymous reviewers, if you leave me a manageable name, (like spider, or something) then I'll fit you into the story. Just a reference, though!
i.e. My penname used to be "i won't tell" so I got excited when someone in a fiction would say "I won't tell the secret!" or something like that…get it? Good!
Thanks so much you guys!