Pop Travel (3 page)

“What do you mean following you? Who?” Cooper couldn’t wait to tell Miki about this guy. So animated and convincing. Cooper wondered if someone was watching them now. For a prankster show.

“I don’t know. An agency? FBI? NSA? CIA? Take your pick. Anyone with access to the millions of webcams streaming live 24/7.”

Cooper gave a grunt of agreement. The damn nosy government, requiring all public places to have webcams linked to the quarknet, giving the authorities unlimited access, saying it was for everyone’s protection. Crime went down, but at the cost of good people’s privacy being violated.

“What makes you think you’re being singled out? Those cameras watch everyone.”

As footsteps approached the table, Phisner spun his head to peer over the menu. He raised his shoulders and slowly slipped his right hand into his jacket.

Is he carrying? This guy could be dangerous.

“You fellas wanna order?” asked a tall, string-haired waitress with a twang as she chawed on her gum.

“Just coffee, please. Black,” Cooper said.

Phisner ducked and chose a spot on the seat beside him to stare at.

“Make it a decaf for my friend,” Cooper added with a charming grin.

“Sho’ thing, hon.” With a sniff at Phisner, she walked away.

When she left, Phisner threw his hands in the air. As he picked up where he left off, the words burst out of him like a teakettle blowing off steam and his pitch rose a few decibels higher, too.

“All I am doing is looking for my fiancée! You’d think anyone with access to the surveillance cameras would be trying to help me!” Phisner closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he had calmed himself back down. “Listen. All I know is, a car followed me home and sideswiped me when I was walking to my apartment. And when I ran inside, it looked like someone had gone through all my stuff and tried to put everything back.”

He paused and leaned in close. “But I could tell. Then, when I went back to work, someone had made up lies about me. The police came and arrested me. They called me a murder suspect and brought me in! I got fired! Eventually, I was cleared, but the damage had been done. That’s when I left the city.”

Phisner had a string of bad luck. Really bad luck. And he read into things, seeing what he wanted to see. Cooper had a hard time believing what Phisner said. His fiancée might have gone missing, but maybe she didn’t want to be found. Phisner could be a stalker. Cooper couldn’t see a solvable case here.

“Are you asking me to find your fiancée?”

Phisner looked down at the table and his tone sobered.

“No. I have come to accept that Aleesa never made it to Denver.” He looked into Cooper’s eyes with complete seriousness. “I think she disappeared at one of the travelports. I hate to say it, but I believe there is a huge pop travel cover-up.” Phisner crossed his arms and pouted at Cooper in defense of his statement.

Cooper smiled.
Crazytown.

“I know what you’re thinking. I am not crazy! Think about it! Look at all the people who have mysteriously disappeared since pop travel started. And put together all the evidence. The secretive behavior of the Denver Travelport Security and that sketchy driver lying about dropping her off. And I did not imagine being struck by a car! Oh, and wait!” Phisner jumped in his seat and pointed at Cooper.

“I forgot to tell you. Aleesa went to a doctor before she left. She had been getting a lot of painful headaches. The doctor said stress caused them and told her not to pop travel for a while. He recommended Aleesa take some time off and gave her some relaxation medications. The suspicious thing is, her aunt told me Aleesa’s cousin, Sarah, had bad headaches, too, and a doctor told Sarah the exact same thing.”

Cooper shook his head. Instead of clearing things up, Phisner added to his convoluted story, forcing pieces to fit into a soggy puzzle. His presentation was all inconclusive gossip, unsubstantiated searches and surveillance, and now assumed doctor corroboration. What an imagination! All these people couldn’t possibly be working together to cover up one woman’s disappearance. Cooper didn’t want to tell Phisner, but he pictured the fiancée lying on a beach somewhere, fed up with a hectic life and wedding jitters.

Though Cooper’s time didn’t cost as much as it used to, he needed to cut off this lunatic’s rantings. He tried the direct approach.

“I don’t see the connection. And I don’t see what I can do to help you.”

Mr. Phisner slammed a hand down on the table and shouted.

“You have to!” When he realized every eye in the place was on him, he blinked and ducked down to finish. “My fiancée is gone. My life is a mess. I can’t do anything or go anywhere because I know someone is watching me. I believe somehow pop travel made my fiancée disappear. And I bet some of the big missing persons cases are linked to it, too, and the travelports are covering it up. You are the man who can prove it.”

Phisner opened both hands to Cooper and let out a heavy sigh.

Cooper raised his eyebrows at Phisner’s adamant proclamation. Breathing in the gravity and magnitude of the accusation, Cooper put a hand to his forehead. As he let all of it sink in, he turned away and slid his hand over his head, scratching the back of it.

Is this guy for real? Pop travel making people disappear? Wouldn’t they shut it down?

“Mr. Phisner, do you realize how outrageous this all sounds?”

Phisner nodded slowly. The pain and dread on his face couldn’t be an act.

“There’s no other explanation.”

Cooper shook his head.

When the waitress dropped off their coffee, Cooper stared into his cup and reorganized what Phisner had told him. He had to think of it impartially. Weight the facts versus the circumstantial evidence. Was it plausible?

Proving pop travel had a problem tempted Cooper. Though he probably wouldn’t find anything, he might be able to sleep easier knowing he had made the right call with Kristen. Even though it wouldn’t bring her back.

“Why are you here? Why me?” Cooper asked. That had been bothering him since he got the call.

Phisner gave a weak smile, his cheeks turning a light pink.

“Oh. Well. When I first researched my theory on the Qnet, I came across your big case. The one where you sued Pop Travel International for monopolizing all the airports. I found out you moved outside Atlanta and became a private detective. When I had to get out of town myself, away from all the webcams in the city, I looked you up. You had great courage, facing big corporations, representing the little guy. Like me. And with your brother being a congressman, I thought you could do something about it.”

“I see.” Cooper didn’t know whether to be flattered or creeped-out.

“Mr. Cooper, I am very serious. I can pay you. I have money from pawning some of my stuff. I never thought I would be the type of person who would need an anonymous credit card. Now I have several. Please, Mr. Cooper. I’m tired of running. You have connections. You can stop this!”

Cooper stared at Phisner. The sunken, pleading eyes shadowed by dark circles, the unshaven stubble, hands gripping his wrinkled jacket tight like a security blanket, and Cooper didn’t doubt the poor man had resorted to carrying a concealed weapon. Phisner had to be younger than Cooper, no more than thirty, but he looked fifty.
Could it be true? Was I right not to trust pop travel?

“Listen, Mr. Phisner. I will do a little digging and see what I can find. Then we can proceed from there. What’s your number?”

“I will contact you. There is no safe place from all these cameras. And QVs are too easily traced.”

“I understand. So you have no Q-devices?”

“Totally unconnected. It’s okay. I know how to reach you.”

They shook hands and Phisner walked out.

As Cooper paid the tab, he watched Phisner slink away toward the trees. He scratched his head again. Such a strange character. Hard to believe he used to be an accountant. And if what Phisner said was true, the world was about to be slapped in the face.

Cooper stepped out and squinted up at the cloudless sky. With the ominous implications of the task set before him, it should be pouring.

Walnut Grove, GA
Tuesday, July 23, 2080

uzu!”

Standing on Mrs. Clark’s doorstep with outstretched arms, Cooper dangled a squirming, sopping, stinking matted ball of fur. With sagging shoulders and just as filthy, Cooper raised an eyebrow at her. The things he did for sweet old ladies.

“Where-eva did you find him?” Mrs. Clark said with a thick twang. She snuggled and gushed over the messy, smush-faced ankle-biter.

“Under the dumpster behind Joe’s.”

“Oh, you!” She rubbed noses with it and Cooper cringed. “Well, Mista Coopa, I suppose the case is closed. I’m sorry for yo’ trouble. I thought sho’ it was Mr. Douglas. He just hates po’ li’l Zuzu.” She nuzzled the fidgety dog again.

“No trouble. He seems unhurt.”

“Could I at least offa’ you all some biscuits and gravy? Won’t take but a minute.”

“No, that’s okay, Mrs. Clark. I have to get back.”

“Awrighty then. Thanks again.” Before closing the door, Mrs. Clark waved Zuzu’s paw at him.

As he walked back to town, Cooper checked the time on his QV. Knowing Dawson would be in town soon for lunch; Cooper jogged the rest of the way.

When he stepped into his apartment, he shouted, “Shower!” and heard the spray. He stripped off his mud-spattered clothes and washed up.

Fifteen minutes later, Cooper left his comfortable cave in his usual business attire, Levi’s and a tucked polo shirt. The door auto-locked behind him. Plodding down the stairs, he smiled with each squeaky step. No one would sneak up on him this way.

When he reached the bottom, he saw a grand, old Cadillac De Ville, just like his grandfather’s, sitting out front.
Dawson, you little sneak.

Taking any opportunity he could to leave them alone together, Cooper waited at the side door and listened to see if Dawson and Miki were making nice. Miki held a strong resentment for Dawson. Not only had she had taken the job with Cooper because of Kristen’s relationship with Miki’s mom, but she also felt sorry for Cooper. Getting all her information secondhand from the papers and gossip, Miki assumed Dawson had abandoned Cooper in his time of need. She didn’t know the whole story.

When Kristen passed, Dawson had been up for his first election. Volunteering to watch Cooper for him, his eager staff made it clear to Cooper he shouldn’t distract Dawson. Though miserable, Cooper did his part by staying out of the news, the hospitals, and jail. As far as Dawson knew, everything had been fine.

But the reality had been the opposite. Cooper lost his job, his house, and his will to live.

After Dawson won, his staff confessed their negligence. Dawson searched until he found Cooper passed out at a homeless shelter in Atlanta, close to his old law firm.

Cooper had been ready to leave the world behind, but Dawson saved him, getting him into rehab and counseling. When Cooper decided to become a private investigator, Dawson helped him purchase his current office/home. Even with Dawson’s busy schedule, he still visited Cooper at least once a month to check on him.

Miki had no clue how much Dawson did for Cooper. He was the only reason Cooper was still around.

“Business is fine,” Miki said.

Cooper could hear the impatience in her voice.

“And how’s Jason?” Dawson asked Miki.

After a pause, she answered with attitude.

“You mean
Jared
? He’s fine.”

Cooper nodded to himself and went in to save his brother from further embarrassment.

“Hey, Dawson. Sorry I’m late,” Cooper said.

Dawson gave him a relieved smile.

“Miki, Zuzu is safe at home,” Cooper reported.

“A missing child?” Dawson asked.

“Dog. Long story.”

“I bet.” Dawson grinned and clapped Cooper on the back. “Are you hungry?”

“Should I bill Mrs. Clark?” Miki asked as if Dawson hadn’t spoken.

“Nah. It’s all good,” Cooper answered and turned to Dawson. “Yeah, I’m starving! Let’s go.”

“Great. Miki, would you care to join us?” Dawson offered.

“No thanks. I brought my lunch.” She turned back to her imager.