Chapter 17:

A Talk With Truman Zanotto

Sasha was sitting quietly in his laboratory, watching an experiment patiently as it bubbled in a dull way. Every once in a while he would turn to a small note pad and copy something down, before turning back to the beaker. Sasha reached forward and turned a knob. The flames underneath the substance grew and licked the glass.

Sasha, who was absorbed in his experiment, jumped a little when his cell phone rang. He opened his coat and reached into an inner pocket, locating his phone and peering at the number on the caller ID screen. It read; Out Of Area. Sasha flipped the phone open.

"Hello?" He asked as he turned the burner off, lighting a cigarette on the dying flames.

"Hello, Sasha?" There was a burst of static.

"Yes, who is this?" Sasha said, while inhaling deeply on his cigarette.

"It's Raz." Sasha stood up and levitated his cigarette a few inches from his face.

"Razputin? It's been a while, how have you been?"

"Fine, listen I don't have a lot of time to talk. I'm calling from a truck stop pay phone in Celeste City. Do you remember Garret Munroe?"

"Yes…of course. He's caused a lot of trouble for the Psychonauts a few years back. Not to mention he was also involved in Mr. Zanotto's kidnapping. Why?"

"Well, apparently his cousin was the one who hired him for the job in the first place. Do you know who Allarick Kay is?"

"The name…sounds familiar."

"Well…anyway, Mr. Zanotto would probably know it. Apparently he's some kind of weird psychic scientist. He had Mr. Zanotto kidnapped because he shut down Allarick's research because it was dangerous."

"This is the first I've heard of it. How did you find all of this out, Razputin?"

"Allarick Kay's been working in my circus for the last year now and he just tried to kill me." Both Sasha and Raz were silent for a moment. In the background Sasha could hear the sound of cutlery and muffled voices.

"Are you all right?" Sashaasked after a while.

"Of course, but listen, Allarick's tied up and unconscious right now and I need someone from the Psychonauts to pick him up."

Sasha nodded.

"Of course, I'll call headquarters and have them send someone right away…um…well done Razputin."

"Wait, I have one other favor to ask."

"What is it?" Sasha asked as he put his cigarette out and leaned back in his chair.

"I want to talk to Mr. Zanotto personally."

"Uh…he's quite busy…but I suppose I could give you the number to his office and…"

"No, I want to talk to him face to face." Sasha cleared his throat.

"That might be a bit difficult."

"Just tell him I want to talk to him…and that it's important. My current location is the Saddle Ranch bar in Celeste City…you can't miss it…the circus is parked out back."

"All right…I'll see what I can do. Goodbye Razputin."

"See ya Sasha." Sasha closed his cellphone, then opened it again and started to dial another number.

XXX

Lili was sitting on her bed doing her homework. Across the room, Zoe was writing in her diary. After writing a few things down on a piece of notebook paper, Lili slipped it into a large book and set it aside. She looked up at the time. It was Ten o' Clock. She hadn't seen Tessa, Lester or Manny all day…and she was starting to get suspicious.

As if she had read her mind, Zoe closed her diary and looked up at Lili. There was a bitter look on her face.

"I don't see why some people think it's okay to skip classes and sneak out during a school day. I wonder what they're up to." Lili kicked her book bag off of her bead and sat back against her pillow.

Sheshrugged andclosed her eyes.

It felt like fifteen seconds passed by, but when she opened her eyes the time was 12:30. She sat up. The lights were off and Zoe was snoring softly from the other side of the room. The handle on the door shook…and Lili assumed that it was a similar sound that disturbed her from her slumber. After a moment the door opened and Tessa squeezed in, shutting it softly behind her.

She started to inch across the room.

"Kind of late isn't it?" Tessa jumped and looked up at Lili guiltily.

"Ergh…uh…yeah…sorry, did I wake you?" She asked as she slipped her shoes off.

"Yes. Where were you?" Lili asked, her expression unchanging.

"Oh…just…hanging out with the guys…you know." Tessa said. She checked the time and uttered a quick (And fraudulent) yawn. "Wow, 12:30 already. Well, see you in the morning Lili." She said as she crawled into bed with all of her clothes on and turned away from the skeptical look in Lili's eyes. Lili watched her for a few minutes before she lay back down and fell asleep. She dreamed of the circus.

XXX

The Psychonauts worked fast and effectively. At around One in the morning they arrived at the circus and detained the criminal…who had very little to say in protest…but appeared to be suffering from numerous blows to the head. (He drooled a lot too…for the same reason)

A lot of the people who had still been at the truck stop came out to watch as a Jet landed next to the numerous circus tents. (It had been an interesting night for these people) Several men in green suits unloaded from the jet…assuring the curious prospectors that they were with the board of health. After they loaded the drooling and scarred man onto the jet, a couple of them went into the truck stop for some pie and coffee.

Raz was sitting outside the Truck stop on the curb, watching as all of this took place. He was in a pair of worn ripped jeans and an oversized army green jacket…trying not to look as though he were associated with the men from the jet or the circus people who had gone into the pub long ago and were getting drunk with enthusiasm.

Next to him was a cup of strong black coffee, which he had managed to purchase after breaking open the broken fortune telling machine. It tasted terrible…and he was drinking it only when he started to doze off. Vaguely he heard the sound of footsteps and then, in place of the concrete, which he had been staring at, while deep in thought, was a pair of polished black shoes. Raz looked up into Truman Zanotto's stern face and stood up quickly in salute.

Truman returned his salute and smiled a little.

"Agent Aquato. I trust your well?"

"Yes sir." Raz said as he lowered his hand.

"I understand you want to talk to me about something. Sasha said it was urgent. But before we get into it, I'd like to congratulate you for another job well done."

"Thank you sir. And yes, I did want to talk to you about something." Truman nodded, and happened to catch the eye of a rather heavyset man in a leather vest who was watching him while drinking something that was dribbling down his beard. Mr. Zanotto cleared his throat and nodded in a direction opposite of the Truck stop and the circus tents.

"Very well then, some privacy may be in order." Raz nodded and followed the older man.

"This is an emergency? I don't generally put important meetings on hold for one on one conversations with single agents."

"Not exactly an emergency." Raz said carefully. "But…important."

"All right then…what is it?"

"It's about Lili." Raz responded. Truman looked slightly confused for a moment.

"Is there something wrong with her…is she in trouble?" He asked, looking slightly concerned and suspicious at the same time.

"No sir. It's about her birthday, sir." Truman was silent for a moment…as his mind was taken suddenly off of business and into the realms of the personal.

"Am I to understand, Agent Aquato…that you've called me out of some very important meetings to discuss my daughters birthday? Is this at all business related?"

"Not really." Raz said with discomfort. Truman seemed to be debating something with himself.

"You see, I know it's coming up really soon…and…"

"Agent Aq…Razputin…I'm sorry. I appreciate what you've done for me…but I don't have time to fly out and talk to you about irrelevant matters. There are some very important men back at Psychonauts HQ who are waiting to talk with me about national conflicts…and I can't keep them waiting any longer to discuss personal things with you." He turned and started to go. Raz followed him.

"But sir, isn't your daughters birthday important?" Raz asked slightly taken aback. "Isn't her happiness more important then some stupid meeting?" Truman sighed and turned.

"Look, Raz, I am a very busy man. Lili understands that. She knows that I sometimes have to put my job before her. Maybe it's time that you learn to keep business and personal matters apart as well." He turned and started to walk towards the jet again. They were now, once more, in front of the Truck stop.

"How do you know she understands that? Have you ever asked her? Isn't important to put her in front of your job sometimes too?" Truman stopped suddenly and Raz almost ran into him. He turned. It was apparent that he was losing his patience.

"I know my daughter, all right? Just because you and my daughter hit it off at summer camp, doesn't mean that you know her more then I do. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir…it's just that…I think she'd like it if…for once…you'd see her on her birthday…like you say you will." Truman looked like he was about to say something, then, looked confused for a moment and shook his head.

"Wait…where is all of this coming from? How do you know about that? Did Lili say that?"

"No sir. Some of her friends from school came to visit me today to ask if I would visit her on her birthday to cheer her up. I haven't talked to her in over a year."

Truman stood up, still looking confused.

"Cheer her up?"

"Yeah…they said she got kind of down during this time because she had to spend her birthday at the school."

They were silent for a moment. Truman stared at the neon sign above the door into the truck stop. One of the letters flickered a little.

"I didn't know that…why didn't she tell me that?" He said to himself…then he sighed. "When would she have gotten a chance to?" He looked back down at Raz, who was watching him.

"Why did you want to talk to me? What do you want me to do about this?" Raz shrugged.

"Whatever you think should be done…you know…what's important…" He paused and added, "Oh…and I'd like to know the name of her school…because I forgot to ask her friends and I have no idea where she is." Truman thought for a long moment and shook his head.

"It wouldn't do you a bit of good…they'd never let you in…not dressed like that." He sighed and put his hands in his pocket as he cast the jet a weary look. One of the Psychonauts was standing outside of it, waiting for him to finish his conversation and climb aboard. He nodded to the man, who looked confused for a moment, then cautious, but eventually nodded back and shouted something at the people inside the jet. Raz watched as the doors closed and it began to fire up.

Truman pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number quickly. After a brief pause he began to speak.

"Good morning Sasha, I figured you'd still be up at this hour, how are the experiments going?" There was a pause. "Oh that's too bad…I'm sure it'll heal in no time though. Anyways I have a favor to ask you. Could you please wake Agent Vodello and ask her to swing by Demure Academy and pick up my daughter. No…no danger, just tell her to drop her...andher friends...I guess,off at my house. Then, after you do that could you please drive up to Celeste City. Me and Razputin are going to need a ride."

XXX

I'm still alive…I just thought you should know. Story's almost over. I'll try to update sooner…my mind, as of late has been preoccupied. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thanks, as always for the reviews.