Chapter 1

Should I get a nutty chocolate bar or go for the bag of chips? Noah stared through the fingerprint-smeared glass of the vending machine, mulling over his choices for dinner as he waited for his clothes to dry. It was Tuesday, which meant it was laundry day since it was the only break in his busy schedule he had to deal with small matters like buying food and cleaning his clothes. Tomorrow, he would return to the mayhem of college courses and his part-time job at the campus bookstore. But before his time and patience were consumed by college life he was going to eat some junk food and watch funny videos on his phone while he waited for the final spin cycle to finish.

He was in the middle of deciding when his phone went off. Mindlessly digging it out of his pocket, Noah checked the caller ID. It was a blocked caller. Noah smiled. There was only ever one person who called him using a blocked number. "Hey stranger," he answered with mock irritation. "I was beginning to think you didn't like me anymore."

"Hey, kiddo."

Noah flushed at the unexpected voice. "Oh, hello, Bo."

"Now y'ain't gotta sound so disappointed," Bobo admonished.

"Right, sorry. How's my favorite talking ape?"

"Is there any way you can stop by for a few days?"

All thoughts of junk food evaporated at Bobo's somber, out-of-the-blue question. Those were the worst kinds of questions. They tended to mean unpleasantness was in Noah's near future. He swallowed down his panic and squashed any assumptions before his mind went into hyperdrive about why Bobo wanted him home. "You need some backup with a prank?" He asked, trying to predict the reason for the call and settle his nerves.

"Not this time, Blondie."

Fear trickled into his body. The spot on Noah's back, between his shoulder blades, tingled in warning, though he desperately hoped he was overreacting. "Is Rex okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, the chief's fine. As much as you'd expect, anyway," the EVO trailed off, clearly just as unhappy to tell him whatever it was he needed to say as much a Noah was dreading in hearing it.

"What's happened? Bobo, you have to tell me. Is everything okay?" He knew he sounded near frantic by the way he was drawing attention from the other students nearby. No longer feeling hungry, Noah turned away from the vending machine and stepped outside the laundry mat. He needed some semblance of privacy in order to continue this conversation. He needed a safe space to freak out if the reason for the call was bad, and while being just outside the laundry-mat wasn't ideal, it was the best he was going to get on such short notice.

"It's Agent Six."

Noah stiffened. Never had he heard Bobo call the formidable man as Agent Six. It was usually 'Boss Man' or 'Mister Serious.' If he was using his issued name then something was really, really wrong. It took all of Noah's mental strength not to allow fear to trickle into his body. "What's happened?" he repeated.

"There was an accident."

"Christ," Noah cursed. "Is he going to be okay?"

"That's the thing, Kiddo. He's a bit touch 'n' go at the moment. There's really no telling what will happen."

Grief rolled over Noah. He sighed heavily in an attempt to lessen the shock of the news. His stomach cramped as if had been punched in the gut and then had a wet blanket thrown over him after he fell to the ground. He leaned against the gritty cement wall of the laundry mat for support as he tried to catch his breath. There were tears in his eyes before he was aware of them.

He wasn't ready to ask how it happened. And Bobo didn't seem too eager to go into details about it either. The accident must have been bad. Noah rubbed a hand over his face and found the courage to ask a less dangerous question. "When-when did it happen?"

"Earlier this morning."

Noah's jaw worked but no words came out. He was speechless. Six had been hospitalized over 12 hours ago and he was just now hearing about it? From Bobo? He didn't hold anything against Bobo, and he knew he shouldn't hold it against Rex, but that didn't make the barb of betrayal feel any less sharp. Though they hadn't been speaking as much anymore, he still considered Rex his closest friend. It should have been Rex calling. So, why wasn't it?

An image of Rex on his back, sweating and calling out for Noah came to him unbidden, answering his question. Noah quickly suppressed the memory. The last thing he needed was to react to old canal thoughts of his friend after hearing such awful news.

He knew there were two ways to deal with it; he could get upset at being kept in the dark for so long or he could be understanding. He straightened up, wiped a hand across his face and put his feelings aside. At least, for now.

"How's everyone doing?"

It was Bobo's turn to sigh into the phone. "Honestly? It's like a zombie wasteland over here. Everyone's freaked."

Noah heard an odd emphasis on 'everyone' and thought Bobo may be trying to explain and perhaps apologize on Rex's behalf. Noah didn't know how to reply to that, so he ignored it. "How are you?"

"Ah, that's sweet of ya to ask, Blondie," was all he said.

Noah guessed he wasn't doing well if he was dodging the question. He didn't press him on that, either. After all, Bobo was one of those who was also in shock.

"Thank you for telling me, Bo. I know that wasn't easy."

"I-er- I didn't call you just for that," Bobo admitted. "See, I was hopin' you'd swing down for the chief. Though I don't know why I know there's been tension between you two since you left for school. But he needs you. Right now, Noah. Is there any chance you could head back? Just for a few days. I'll even book the flight and arrange for transportation."

"Wow, um, that's pretty generous," Noah said, his face flaming up at the mention of the messy past between him and Rex. "Uh, I know I need to go, and I want to, but I gotta check in with my professors before I can leave. I'll be missing some pretty important classes this week. I gotta see if I would be able to make them up first before I can agree to anything. And that's not counting my supervisor at work."

"About that..." Bobo trailed off. There was a pregnant pause on the other side of the phone stretching for several moments before something clicked inside him.

Noah could feel a headache forming in his eyes. "They already know." It wasn't a question.

"I may have made a few calls before rinign' ya."

"Cheeky monkey," Noah couldn't suppress his smile.

"Yeah, well, I was hedging mah bets."

"I'm guessing they agreed to all your terms."

"You know it."

"And those happen to be?"

"You got seven days. And you'll be able to make everything up. The bookstore was harder to make happen. They said I had to find someone to cover for you."

Noah nodded. "Yeah, that's standard policy."

"You're telling me. The woman at the store said she could possibly get someone called Matthew is going to cover your shifts at the store."

"Nice work."

"Thanks. So you're coming down?"

"Yeah."

"That's great."

The relief he heard in Bobo's voice made Noah's heart hurt. It was clear he didn't need to go back just for Rex's sake.

"So, when am I leaving?"

Bobo promised to text him the details of his travel arrangements once they had been made.

"Bo?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks again for calling."

"Sure, kiddo. See ya soon." With that, Bobo hung up.

Though he figured this was too serious for Bobo to make it up, Noah planned to contact his professors, just to make sure everything was squared away. He was surprised to see that he had received several emails while on the phone. They each were from college addresses. One of them was from the Dean, confirming his approved leave of absence. Noah stared at the phone until it darkened before heading back inside. Although he really hoped he wouldn't need it, already he was mentally packing everything that he might need for a long week.

But first, he had laundry to finish.

I am hoping to post two chapters a week for the next two months for twenty chapters total. Whoo, we'll see how that goes.