- - - - - - - - - - - - On with the Show - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Rehearsals intensified as opening night drew closer. Seth had never seen a show come together like this. There was something about playing a ragtag bunch of orphans that had brought the cast into one big family like no other show had. Only one thing seemed out of place.
Although Reese still became her characters onstage, everywhere else she was definitely not herself. She was quieter, sometimes scanning the crowded hallways as if expecting someone to appear at any moment. Small things around her escaped her notice, a feat unheard of next to what Seth now realized was probably her CIA training. She was afraid of something.
"Feeling okay?" Seth asked one day. He'd stopped by her locker as usual, but this time she'd jumped a mile.
"Uh, I guess not," she said sheepishly. "Probably just nerves, with the show in three days. Hey listen, Claire and I were going to chill in the park after rehearsal and dinner, so I can't make it to hang out tonight. But it should help the stress." She made direct eye contact, just for a moment. "See you on stage."
Seth never would have caught it if she hadn't been coaching him for the past several weeks. The slightest flicker had crossed her eyes, one that said, Be at the park and don't say anything.
Once again, rehearsal felt completely normal. They were drilled relentlessly with dance and voice warm-ups, followed by a run through. Reese had caught on by now that Seth was uncomfortable with the final scene, and, without even mentioning it to him, worked in a way to fake it under Shauna's radar. But once again, as soon as they were dismissed, Reese disappeared somewhere with her cell phone. She still hadn't emerged when Seth's ride pulled up.
It wasn't hard to get away to the park. Zoe was occupied by Trenton as usual, Lulu had a Fireflies outing, and their mom was busy with the younger boys. As long as Seth got his homework done, no one would think anything of his absence for the moment. He got there just in time to see Claire and Reese finishing a lap around the pond.
"Oh I think I've got one more in me, just for the sake of the old days," Claire was saying, jogging lightly in place.
Reese, however, had spotted Seth already. "You go on ahead. My knee's starting to bug me." She picked up her water bottle from the bench and sat down. Sweat streaked the sides of her face. "It's amazing how much better you feel with a little exercise. What's up?"
"Well, I'm wondering if you're really feeling better," Seth answered. The memory of her nonverbal cue made him subconsciously keep his voice a little lower. Her reaction told him he'd guessed right.
"I guess I'm a little wary of wrapping everything up, not just the show." She pitched her voice lower as well. "My boss wants to move the Friday after show weekend…and he says there's already going to be plenty of help. Sorry."
Seth hung his head in disappointment. Then he noticed that despite her light and relaxed appearance, Reese's knees were bouncing nervously. "What's got you so jumpy? The cover ups, being out here…?"
"It's make-or-break time; if we screw up now, we could lose more than we're trying to gain," she said cryptically. "And this guy's too smart to still be oblivious after we've chased him for so long. I'm…I think he might be on to me." Her gaze was hollow, and focused on the path at their feet.
"C'mere." Seth slid an arm around Reese's shoulders. "Wait—this is okay, right?"
She shrugged, a smile curling her mouth only for a moment.
"It's going to turn out okay, I promise…actually, I can't, that was dumb…but from what I've seen, they've trained you too well to not be able to kick this guy's butt. You'll get 'im."
"Thanks, Seth." Both allowed the moment to linger, until Claire's appearance around the corner made them jump apart.
"Well, um, anything else you wanted to do or talk about?" Seth covered wildly. He dropped his skateboard to the ground and placed one foot on it. "Cause if not, I should probably go."
Reese's eyes seemed to search for a reason to ask him not to, but no result presented itself. "I guess you should; it's getting dark anyway. See you tomorrow?"
"Yeah. See ya."
One thing still nagged at him, though. It didn't seem right the way that she spoke about the pick up. Seth felt like the CIA was exposing its back somehow in retreat, a mistake that, if this nutcase was as quick as Reese thought, was not likely to go unnoticed.
I'll find a way to see for myself, he decided. It sounds crazy and stupid, sayin' it, but I have a sickening feeling that's when he's going to make his move. Whoever he is…
Seth found sleep hard to come by, and uneasy when it did. He kept seeing images of Reese covered in blood, overshadowed by a faceless, hulking figure holding the computer. Then the man would level the gun at Seth, and he would wake up shaking and drenched in cold sweat.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"…Save a place, I'll be theah."
Seth slipped his cowboy hat back on his head and walked up to the lamppost on stage left. All eyes were on him. "So you ain't got any family—ain't 'chu glad you ain't dat way? Ain'chu glad you got a dream called…Sana Fe…" He wandered off stage left to thunderous applause. Reese was waiting for him, already in her newsie costume.
"You were amazing!" she praised quietly, and threw her arms around his neck.
"Well, I did have amazing help to get here," he pointed out. With his initial opening night jitters relieved, he could enjoy sharing with the audience what this show had become. Except for the kiss. He still couldn't bring himself to cross that line with Reese, despite the growing hints of affection between them.
"I'm jus' not used to havin' wedder I stay or wedder I go matta to anybody," Seth said, as he had every other time they ran the scene. But something in the words suddenly rang with the events and tensions of the past few days, and he felt a rush of feelings rise unexpectedly with the rest of his lines. "An'…an' I'm not saying it should matta to you, but…but does it? Matta?"
Heat also rose to his neck and face when Reese made eye contact. I hope they don't notice in the audience. He knew Reese had, though she hid it well in the rest of the scene. After skyrocketing performances as the weekend had progressed, Seth didn't want to ruin the streak by breaking character. However, amid the euphoria of finales both literal and artistic, he found himself naturally pulling her into a simple, few-second kiss.
"You were so awesome!" Lulu cried when the cast came out to meet and greet with the crowd. For once, Seth didn't mind his little sister throwing her arms around his middle.
"And that kiss." Shane punched his arm lightly. "You really know how to make 'em fall for you."
Seth's face went scarlet, which only deepened when Reese appeared beside him. She took the many compliments modestly before asking to speak with Seth alone. They retreated to a staircase leading to the emergency exit.
"He's right, you know. Tonight was easily your best performance," she began. Then her expression turned quiet and tentative. "Except it wasn't all acting, was it?"
Uh-oh. "Um, well, maybe…" Seth realized it might just be better to get it over with. "I mean it's okay if you don't really feel that way. I just thought about the last few weeks, and…I jumped to conclusions, it was stupid, and anyway, you already said with your job—" His rambling explanation was stemmed by Reese's hand over his mouth.
"It'd be a balancing act, yeah," she said. Something was leaving her indecisive in what she wanted to say. "I'm not real sure of anything coming up in the next couple weeks. What I do is what I've been around all my life, and I love it. Which would mean I have to accept the sacrifices."
Disappointed, Seth tried to nod to show he understood.
"However," Reese continued. "Lately I've been wondering if it might be time to move on. Settle down, if you will, let myself have a normal life for real. My parents have been dead for almost three years. Claire and Shane have already offered me a place should I want to leave the agency. I think…I might take them up on it."
Seth's mood leapt hopefully. "So you'd stay here?"
"If I choose to leave work. I'm waiting at least until this job is over before I seriously think about it. Right now, I need all the focus I can get. But I won't deny that you would factor into it, Seth Plummer; few people in my line of work have character like yours."
"And you've probably met fewer of them?" Seth guessed, smiling.
Reese shrugged. "Mmm, give or take. Your dad was one of them, though. Anyway, good job this weekend. He'd really be proud of you. I have to rendezvous with my boss over the phone tonight, so I'll have to duck out early. See you on Monday." She squeezed his hand lightly before turning to leave.
Seth was speechless. Despite the suddenness, despite everything required of her, Reese really wanted to consider a relationship. And she had known his dad, of all people in the government! He decided then and there that he would help her achieve this transition anyway he could. Her mission would wrap on Friday—how many incidents could the CIA be willing or pressed to put a teenager on? Surely not enough to reassign her immediately.
He remained deep in his thoughts the entire way home. So everything rests on Friday now. All Reese had to do was get past Friday. Then everyone could be happy.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Time moved faster than Seth could have imagined. He couldn't decide, though, if this was good or not; he was as anxious about the close of Reese's mission as he was looking forward to what was possible after it.
Reese, too, was getting jumpy again. She was more worried than ever about being caught by her target.
"Wouldn't it work out better if we could snag him too, though?" Seth asked during lunch on Thursday.
Reese played with a hole she'd cut in the cuff of her black jacket. "As far as the goals we want to accomplish, yes. But it's more complicated than that. This guy is brilliant, probably more so than a fair number currently working at the agency. It's too much of a risk to have him and the computer in the same place, and think we'll get away with both."
"So your boss is just going to let 'im go free?"
"I don't know," Reese said, rather tersely. "That's why I haven't finalized my decision to quit and stay here. Unless we find some way to catch him separately, I'll probably be needed to keep tailing him. We'll see."
Seth's apprehension was still unmoving when they caught their separate rides Friday afternoon. In roughly an hour, Reese would be meeting the CIA transport in the private parking lot behind the community theatre. He'd overhead a conversation with her boss by accident.
His plan was simple—stake out the lot from the edge of the park, which was across the street, about fifteen minutes before the meeting. He would stay out of sight the entire time, unless something went wrong. And Seth couldn't shake the feeling that something about this was very wrong. Neither Reese nor the CIA would be happy with his nosing around, but he couldn't make himself sit around at home while this was going on.
Nothing moved for a long time at the lot. Seth had brought his homework as a cover, though his mind was far from the algebra equations in front of him. He'd even traded in his usual black wardrobe for khakis, a long-sleeve t-shirt, and open button-up. Wait—what if Reese checks the area? She'd be able to pick me out a lot easier than the CIA guys would. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…
He almost started to pack up his stuff. Who was he to mess with government affairs, anyway? Then he almost psychically felt the atmosphere of the area change, as if he'd been doused with cold water. Seth spun around. A black van had just pulled around the corner, turned into the lot, and parked close to the stage door. This was it. Two men in plain civilian clothes got out of the front seats and began unloading what looked like small set pieces into the stage door. About a minute later, Reese pulled up on a bike, her backpack full of what Seth knew was not homework.
But they scarcely had time for hellos when apparently a sound was heard in the unseen alley that ran from the corner. The men pushed Reese into the van's back doors, waited for something Seth couldn't detect, nodded, and covered each other going into the alley.
Seth broke cover before he'd really decided what to do. His books were still lying in the grass, but he had his cell phone. The men hadn't returned yet form the alley. He was almost across and into the lot. The doors of the van faced away from the alley's mouth. Maybe he could quietly sneak Reese out to safety… He slowed down, not wanting to scare her. Then a faint sound came twice from the alley, one Seth had heard so many times on TV, but never thought he'd encounter in real life. The sound of a gun with a silencer attached, if he wasn't mistaken. And he hoped he was. He had to get her out of here.
"Reese? It's me. We gotta go now!" he hissed as he edged around the door. The slight girl was standing in front of a heavy-looking device, a gun aimed at the opening. Seth instinctively put his hands up.
"Are you crazy?! What're you doing—never mind, you're the one who has to get to safety! Go!" she whispered, voice tight with fear.
"Not without you and that thing!" Seth climbed into the van, extending a hand to her. Suddenly Reese's face went chalk white. She shook her head frantically at something over Seth's shoulder.
"C'mon, we—" Stars and pain exploded from the back of Seth's head, and everything went black.