Disclaimer: If you recognize the characters, they aren't mine. Just playing in the sandbox so graciously provided by JMS and the Wachowskis.
Reminder: I'm also on Twitter as "avidbeader" if you're reading here as a guest and would still like a way to get story updates.
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He had been in the cell for hours, the end of the business day approaching, before they finally came and brought him to a room to consult with a lawyer. BPO had sent over someone new, a young man that he didn't know at all. A thread of worry embedded itself in his mind, realizing that most of those who could be trusted with full knowledge of the mission were of his generation or older, aging and dying at too fast a rate. The need to eliminate Metzger had been a huge blow, leaving just two other surgeons worldwide that could be trusted to try the operation without him.
"Dr. Matheson, I'm Jeremy Cox. I've been given information about your situation and I have to be honest, sir. You've got yourself in a right mess."
"How? I was the one that was assaulted! How can I be the one being detained?"
"As you were informed, according to your own signature on this document, an officer identified you as being present on the scene of a potential crime. He has since produced these photographs, which very clearly are of you." Cox slid over a print and he paled, recognizing the collecting of Angelica's body.
"Now, it's just barely possible that we can work this one out. The pictures were taken by a questionable witness, one that the police are trying to shield. We can try to use our resources at the federal level to explain why local authorities weren't notified of a potentially hazardous situation. However…"
Cox looked in a file folder and pulled out a flyer with the picture of a young girl. Large letters across the top begged: HAVE YOU SEEN ME?
"They took your fingerprints, which they had the right to include in the process. But for some reason they ran them through the database of unknowns in open and cold cases. And your prints were identified as being found in this child's house. She disappeared without a trace."
He swallowed hard. He remembered Sarah Patrell very well. She had died during one of his early, secretive attempts at the procedure that lobotomized sensates without destroying the key elements that allowed visitation across clusters. It was through her that he began to find the way. He also remembered a boy sneaking in, spying and escaping. He was almost certainly another sensate that Sarah had managed to summon.
A boy…a boy here in Chicago? Could it have been Will Gorski?
His mind raced with the possibilities. If Gorski's sensate abilities had been partly woken that early, it explained how quickly he had begun to grasp the possibilities after Angelica fully birthed his cluster.
Cox interrupted his train of thought. "I take it, Doctor, that this is going to be a sticky situation?"
He rubbed one hand under his glasses and down his face. "What options do we have?"
"I can try to get the first court appearance scheduled in the next couple of days. I think the best we can hope for is a large bail amount and a restriction not to leave the city. The local news stations have already started leading with news of a breakthrough in this cold case. With the publicity, it's going to be hard to convince a judge to let you out of jail."
"Do it. BPO will post the bail."
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The alarm on Will's phone chimed, waking him instantly. He checked that it was indeed one in the morning, which would likely be early evening in Chicago. He sat up and his heart rate accelerated, but not quite so strongly as before. He dutifully picked up the water bottle on the nightstand and drank. He focused briefly on the connection with Whispers and was able to get a sense of intense frustration, anger, and an undercurrent of worry. Will withdrew, satisfied for the moment that Whispers was still locked down in Chicago.
A quick visit to the bathroom later, he sat on the bed and picked up the travel phone. Riley stirred at the motion. "Will?"
"I'm here. Just calling my dad, letting him know I'm alive."
"I should try and call my dad tomorrow."
He nodded and brought up the short list of contacts in the travel phone, selecting his father's number.
The phone rang several times. If he knew his dad, he would spend the next several seconds debating whether to answer the unfamiliar number before finally picking up because the one time he didn't it would be incredibly important.
"Hello?"
"Dad, it's me."
"Will! Where are you?"
"I don't know. I just—"
"What the hell do you mean you don't know? You can't say something like that! There's this asshole of a doctor trying to convince me that you're sick and have to have a brain operation. Don't you dare tell me he might be right!"
"He's not right, Dad. But I really don't know where I am. I've been unconscious for the last several days while someone got me away from that asshole doctor."
"Willie…"
Will imagined his father running his free hand down his face as he tried to sort out his thoughts.
"I can't talk much longer right now. I just wanted to let you know that I'm alive, I'm safe for the moment, and I have friends trying to help me through this."
"Wait, Will, wait. What does this all have to do with Sarah Patrell?"
And there it was. The case that turned his dad's pleasure in a few beers into alcoholism. The case that took his sharp edge and dulled it enough for his dad to make the mistakes he did and get shot on what should have been a routine drug bust.
"You were telling me the truth back then, weren't you? You really were seeing her?"
"Yeah, Dad. And one night I followed her to an abandoned house and she showed me what was happening to her. That asshole doctor was operating on her brain – I saw it all. I saw her die. The doctor realized I was there and chased after me. Nearly caught me. And even though she was dead, I'd still see Sarah for months after." Will's voice began to shake and he felt Riley's arm creep around him.
"Christ, Will. I…I'm sorry. But it seemed so impossible to believe."
"And so does this, I know. Can you trust me now?"
"Can you stay in touch?"
"I'll do the best I can." Will thought rapidly. "If something happens and I can't call, if you hear from a girl called Riley or another girl called Nomi, you can trust them."
A spark of his dad's humor flared. "Really, Will? One woman not enough for you now?"
"It's hard to explain, but it's not what you're thinking. I gotta go, Dad. I'll try and call again soon."
"Can I call this number?"
"Maybe, I'll have to check with Nomi. If we get traced through this phone we'll have to ditch it and start again."
"God, Will. Please be careful. I want you home again."
"I want to be home, Dad. I love you."
"I love you, too."
Will ended the call and wiped his eyes. Riley slid closer and embraced him.
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The rattle of keys in the door did not startle Sun, as she had heard the guard's footsteps in advance. She waited for the woman to open the door and looked up.
"You have a visitor," the woman stated. Sun rose and followed her out.
She stepped into the conference room and her eyes widened at the sight of her lawyer. As he had done the last time, he stood and held her chair out for her respectfully before sitting in his own. The guard did not bark at him, but left, neglecting to close the door fully.
The lawyer sat and pulled a pair of files from his briefcase. ""I apologize for not coming sooner, but things have been moving in very unpredictable directions since I last came." He opened the first file. "The auditors found new fraudulent activity on the accounts they had been tracking, thinly disguised behind a new false identity. They are demanding that the investigation be reopened and that you be questioned again. They are looking at a few possibilities. If you were working alone, how are you managing to continue the fraud while in prison? If you were working with a partner that you shielded, who is it?"
He paused, making Sun look up from the file to meet his eyes. "And if, as they are beginning to suspect, you confessed to crimes that you did not commit, who are you protecting?"
Sun kept her face impassive, but clasped her hands together under the table. She could feel many of the others as they mentally lent their support to her. She could feel Capheus' hands on her shoulders.
Your mother would never expect you to go this far. She had no idea what your brother was capable of. Promises do have limits.
Sun took a deep breath. "I confessed in the hope that my father could salvage the company. And because I promised my mother before she died that I would always look out for my brother. But he is the one who was embezzling the funds. And I believe he killed our father and staged his suicide because Father was going to admit it."
The lawyer nodded. "The police are investigating your father's death. They were made aware of your father's plans and your brother's visit here. His own alibi is solid, but they are tracing all possibilities of a hired assassin."
Sun bowed her head, suppressing the tears that welled up. "He did say, the night the three of us agreed to this, that he had not acted alone."
"We will appear in court tomorrow, where I believe we can arrange for you to be released. They may choose to limit you to the city, but you'll be away from here."
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Nomi looked around Will's room. He, Riley, and Sun were sitting in a row on his bed. Capheus and Lito leaned against the chest of drawers. Kala stood in front of the wardrobe, arms crossed tightly. She had been very quiet since her argument with Wolfgang, who had left for Berlin that morning.
She yawned. It was too damn early for her. Sun was leaning against Riley, also looking sleepy.
Will began, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was so stupid and got us into this mess."
Nomi shook her head. "You weren't stupid, Will. You rushed in, yeah, but you weren't stupid. It's not your fault that Whispers was in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time."
"But now everyone's at risk because of me."
"We were all at risk anyway. If you hadn't gone after Riley, she'd be in your place. But we have time to try and find a solution," Capheus argued.
Will rubbed his hands over his face. "Is everyone okay for now? Any sign of other BPO people coming?"
Nomi shook her head. "Everything's quiet in San Francisco for the moment. But Amanita and I were wondering if we should coordinate with your partner, Diego. Share information, since he seems to be on board with weird shit happening."
Will nodded. "I'm going to call him in a couple of hours. I'll tell him to expect you."
"There's nothing happening here as far as us," Lito offered. "I'm trying to untangle some personal issues, but that is not related."
"You should be safe longer than the rest of us," Nomi observed. "You're a famous movie star. They can't make you just disappear."
"But they could injure him, force him into a hospital. That's what Yrsa said, that we have to be extremely careful not to put ourselves into a hospital situation. That's how they can capture us." Riley was trembling, thinking of the sudden and uncontrollable surge of memories that had caused her to collapse at her father's performance.
Will put an arm around her, feeling retroactive panic of his own. "That's true. Who knows what would have happened if I hadn't woken up fast after the car accident? I was able to charge out of there on my own, but if they'd been ready sooner, I could have ended up in Nomi's situation, with a doctor signing bogus orders to keep me there."
Nomi shuddered, remembering. Lito was the closest to her and he reached over to rub her shoulder in support.
Sun spoke up. "Things are beginning to move for me. My lawyer thinks I may be out of prison in a few days."
"That's good," Capheus offered. The others all made sounds of agreement while Nomi smiled in triumph. He continued, "I expect I will be flying to India in a day or two. Kabaka is sponsoring treatment for my mother that may help her."
Riley brightened. "Will you be able to meet Kala?"
Kala jerked at the sound of her name, startled to see the others smiling at her. "What is it?"
Capheus repeated, "I will be in Mumbai by the end of the week. I would like to visit with you in person, if we can find a way. Perhaps I can go sightseeing, visit your temple."
"That would be lovely," she replied automatically.
The meeting went on for a short while longer, as Riley, Will, and Nomi shared as much as they could about BPO. As the others left, Kala hung back. She gave Riley a significant glance and Riley took the hint.
She stood and kissed Will on the cheek. "I'm going to go upstairs, take a shower. I'll fix us some soup after that."
Will nodded, then realized that Kala was still there.
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"What is it? Are you having any more trouble with those protestors?"
Kala shook her head.
"Your fiancé?"
"No, although I am almost certainly going to have to lie to him deliberately very soon. No, I wanted to know... You know how we are able to interact with one another? Pass physical objects to the other?"
"Yeah?"
"Does it happen with your interactions with the others? With the doctor? Whispers?"
Will paused. "We can physically touch one another. I don't know about passing things one to the other."
"If you get the chance to experiment safely with Angelica's friend, can you try?"
"Sure. Why?"
"I have an idea. But I shouldn't say anything more until I know it's possible."
Will reached out and touched her arm. He looked into her eyes…larger and darker than Riley's, the innocence in them still there, lurking behind her worry. He remembered that first meeting with Riley, when that innocence and joy had shone in her face as well.
"Be careful, please?"
"I will."
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Back in her room, Kala grabbed her phone and sent a text. She quickly changed from her work outfit to jeans and a gauzy blouse. She slipped on sandals and grabbed her purse, sneaking down the back staircase of the house and out into the early evening before anyone in her family could see her.
She took a cab to the hospital and found Rajan outside waiting. He paid her fare before she could protest and helped her out of the car.
"Even though we're almost married, I was surprised when you asked to meet alone."
"How is your father?"
"He is steady. Certainly no worse."
"Should I go in and see your mother?"
He shook his head. "No need right now. I finally convinced her to go home and get some sleep. She'll be back in the morning." He put his hands on her shoulders. "Now, what is it that you needed?"
"The conference in America in two weeks, the one you were planning on attending with your father?"
"Yes, since you were kind enough to agree that our honeymoon trip could wait until September."
"Are you still going, now that your father is stable?"
"I had not decided. I was going to talk to the doctors, to Mother, and then to you."
"I would like to go with you."
"To New York? Why?"
"I have something that I must do."
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Author's Note: Thank you for reading!