Psych Investigation Episodes: Episode 1 (A Young Adult Scifi / Fantasy) (18 page)

The interior was just what Jack had expected,
only better. This was the type where he could stick his legs out
while they were flying, just like in those old Vietnam war movies.
The piloting console was amazing, too, with buttons and lights and
all kinds of other neat stuff. Jack wondered if everyone would be
annoyed if he pushed a few just to see what they did. He decided
against it. After all, the last thing Jack needed was Melissa
getting on his case again just because of a teeny-tiny little
helicopter crash.

One by one, the members of Paro’s team entered
and strapped themselves in around Jack. Melissa sat next to him,
with Sarah taking a place beside her. On the other end Paro, Kazou,
and Michael strapped in and passed around large
headsets.

Jack placed one over his ears. “What are these
for?”

“
It’s so you can hear us, Jack,”
Kazou said. “It gets pretty loud when we’re flying, but we can
communicate easily with these on.”

“
It’s so cool, isn’t it?” Michael
asked. “I love flying in these things too.”

The propeller resumed its loud whine as it spun
faster and faster with each rotation. Jack could swear his
heartbeat accelerated to match the thumping sound of the
vehicle.

The first twenty seconds were pure bliss. The
helicopter lifted off and slowly gained distance from the ground.
Jack could see the
Golden Pearl,
the highway, and the
trees around him become smaller while he reigned over it like a
God.

The wind beat against him, ruffling his
clothing. The helicopter was only a few hundred feet up, but Jack
was still filled with pure joy. He tried to look in every direction
at once. Flight was truly one of the most amazing and magnificent
things that human beings had ever brought to this world.

As the helicopter lurched forward, Jack felt
tears form in his eyes while he watched the small cars on the road.
He wondered if they were looking up at him, wishing they too could
soar over the skies. They were nothing more than little dots that
whizzed by on the highway.

Paro said the flight would probably only be
about forty-five minutes, so Jack tried to take in every detail and
burn it into memory. He wiggled his feet, feeling the force of the
wind push against them. He looked down as they flew over the
residential areas.

Jack watched in a fascinated trance as he flew
over swimming pools, rooftops, and kids playing basketball in front
of their homes. Several people looked up at him and
pointed.

 “
Hey, Jack, do you like it?”
Michael asked.

“
Oh, hell yeah! Can we go back to
the diner and start over? I think I missed a few details along the
way.”

Melissa sighed into her headset. “You’ve just
landed yourself one slap in debt, Jack.”

“
Don’t listen to her,” Michael
chimed in. “She’s just trying to kill the fun of
flying.”

“
Yeah,” Jack said, laughing.
“Melissa hates fun. We should call her the ‘Funinator’ from now
on.”

At this, even Kazou seemed to join in,
chuckling with Michael. A feminine growl came from the headset.
“Two slaps.”

The helicopter soared over New Jersey, until
the land turned to water and they flew over the ocean. Jack
delighted in the misty wind that hit his face. In the distance, he
could spot the outline of Manhattan Island. This was beyond a doubt
one of the coolest things he’d ever done. He looked at the water,
only a few dozen feet below him, hoping to see a fish.

If Jack had been amazed early on, he nearly
lost his ability to speak when they reached Manhattan. It was a
dream world of tall buildings, cars, pedestrians shuffling across
streets, and giant skyscrapers with flashing lights visible even
during the day.

The helicopter set down on the landing pad of a
giant, grey building. Jack had no idea what part of Manhattan this
was, but he didn’t care. All he wanted was to stay in the
helicopter and redo the flight from scratch.

He unbuckled his restraints and jumped out,
almost tripping and falling on his face. Melissa, Kazou, Michael,
and Sarah followed close behind while Paro whispered something into
the pilot’s ears. He was the last to join them. Before Jack had
time to take in his surroundings, he felt a pinching sensation burn
across his face.

“
That’s for being stupid and calling
me the ‘Funinator’.”

Jack rubbed his cheeks and stared menacingly at
Melissa. Whatever, he wouldn’t let her spoil his good mood. And she
was
a Funinator.

Paro led them off the landing pad and pressed
the call button of an elevator opposite the helicopter. Within
seconds, the doors opened, and Jack cheerily entered with the rest
of the team. He was immediately intrigued by the myriad of buttons
and labels. One said
Homicide,
while another said
Theft.

Paro pressed the button labeled
Juvenile
Crime
just above
Special Operations
, and the elevator
lurched downward at a speed Jack hadn’t been expecting, causing him
to lose some of his balance and tumble into Melissa. The two made a
light thud as they bumped into the corner of the fuzzy elevator
wall.

“
Whoops,” Jack said.

Melissa pushed him off and scowled at him. “Be
careful, Jack.”

The elevator door opened, and Jack stepped out.
He was greeted with an incredible sight. They were in a wide, tall
room, with two sets of stairways leading up three floors. Hundreds
of people answered phone calls while the buzz of conversation rang
through the air.

There were vending machines and eating areas
with large glass tables. Looking up, Jack could see massive windows
that displayed beautiful views of Manhattan with neighboring
buildings in the distance.

“
Do all these people know about us?”
Jack asked.

Sarah nodded. “Every single person here has
taken an oath of secrecy and some are even Psychs themselves. This
is where our team works. It’s here that we handle all matters
pertaining to you younger Psychs.”

Paro put a hand on Jack’s shoulder. He appeared
to be in a decent mood for once.

“
Jack, our department’s pretty big,
and we’re not the only team that works here, either. There are a
few of us. We’ve got quite a few amenities here. Food, a gym,
sleeping rooms, a holding cell—cooperate with us and you won’t have
to see the last—and most importantly, our planning room. We’ll be
taking you there in just a bit, but why don’t you get some rest?
You were up all night with no chance to relax, so go ahead and
sleep for a few hours.”

Paro beckoned a small woman with a tiny headset
and an earpiece attached to her face. “Margaret, come here,
please.”

The woman, Margaret, hurried over. “Yes,
Paro?”

“
Will you kindly show Jack to a room
for a bit? I need to have a word with my team, and Mr. Harris here
has been through quite a bit.”

Jack felt like sticking his tongue out. “I’m
not tired at all, Paro! I wanna see everything here, and then maybe
Melissa and I can go see Phantom of the Opera. It’s not every day I
get to come to the big city.”

Michael laughed and gave Jack a pat on the
back. “It’s too soon for that, bud. Just rest up and I promise you
we’ll have some fun later, okay? I’ll make sure of it.”

Reluctantly, Jack followed the woman past the
rows upon rows of people speaking loudly into headsets and typing
madly on computers. He followed her up the first flight of stairs,
and Jack couldn’t help but stop for a moment to take a glance out
of the large, rectangular glass windows. Manhattan was beautiful,
truly and surely. He could make out at least five other buildings
this high up, and he wanted to visit each one of them.

Margaret opened up another door and led Jack
into a hallway with doors on each side. Halfway down, she stopped
to open yet another door, this one leading into a small,
hotel-sized room. It had a bathroom, a bed, and a
fridge.

“
This is where you’ll be staying for
a bit, Jack. If you need anything else, please let me
know.”

She closed the door behind him, and Jack
resisted the urge to follow her out. He decided to at least try and
get some rest. He doubted he would be able to sleep with so much
excitement still on his mind. He wanted to replay each moment of
the helicopter ride in his head.

Jack lay down on the bed, and although it was
comfortable, he seriously doubted he would get any rest.

Within four seconds, he was snoring.

Melissa closed the door to the planning room,
struggling to contain her anger. She had decided not to undermine
Paro in front of Jack—she respected Paro too much to go that far.
But now that they were alone as a team, she would let him have
it.

The team didn’t require any data on screen at
the moment, so the room was well-lit and cool. Melissa took a seat
on her leather chair next to Kazou and Michael, leaving Paro and
Sarah on the other side of the round table.

“
Melissa, I can see you’re angry,”
Paro began, “but you must know that what I’m doing—”

“
Save it, Paro!” Melissa didn’t care
how much he hated being interrupted. This time, he’d gone too
far.

“
You’re going to get Jack killed.
Did you even stop for a minute to think about what you’ve just set
in motion?”

Paro sighed, apparently willing to let Melissa
slide for the disrespect. “Melissa, don’t think I haven’t thought
about this carefully. This is our first chance to find who is
responsible for the travesties that have been committed. Can we
really afford to let this opportunity slip away?”

Michael, Kazou, and Sarah said nothing. They
knew better than to get in the middle of a Melissa-Paro feud.
Melissa liked Paro the best on the team, and usually the two got
along wonderfully. But when they clashed, they
really
clashed.

“
This is an innocent’s life we’re
playing with, damnit. You didn’t spend as much time with Jack as I
did. He’s not like anyone else I’ve ever met, Psych or otherwise.
We can’t throw him to these animals. He’s not some piece of meat to
be devoured. What if he dies? What if they kill him?”

Paro’s face remained unchanged. “We have no
reason to believe he’s in any danger. From what you’ve told us, the
two rogue Psychs you ran into wanted him pretty badly.” Paro shook
his head. “They won’t kill him.”

Melissa couldn’t help herself. She picked up a
water-filled glass in front of her and threw it into the wall
behind Paro, shattering the cup and leaving a dark, wet spot on the
white surface.

“
How can you possibly know that,
Paro?”
she screamed at him. “You’re the one who’s always
telling us we can’t assume to know what’s going on in the minds of
people this deranged. How can you know they simply won’t walk up to
him when we least expect it and murder him like all the
others?”

She felt embarrassed for her sudden display of
outrage. Even Michael didn’t offer a quip in response.

Jack,
she thought to herself.
I
can’t bear the thought of him being killed like the others. No, I
won’t let that happen.

Her emotions were still a mess from when she
kissed him. Feelings, thoughts, they were all scrambled and didn’t
make any sense. He was immature, he was sometimes an idiot, but he
looked at her like she was the most wonderful thing in the world.
When she kissed him …

She forced the thought from her mind, trying to
seal it behind a mental-door made with the densest
metal.

“
Are you finished?” Paro asked. He
stood up from his chair and retrieved a broom and pail, then spent
the next few moments cleaning up the glass.

“
Melissa,” he said with a sweep, “I
know that on some level you must like this boy—and quiet—do not
think to interrupt me again. This is the first chance we’ve had to
finally solve all of this and put an end to these massacres. If
you’ve learned anything about me from your time here, you should’ve
learned that I do
not
take these things lightly.”