The Return of the Watchers (Armageddon Rising Book 1) (11 page)
Read The Return of the Watchers (Armageddon Rising Book 1) Online
Authors: Denny Bennett
“I have no idea who or what these people are. For all I know they’re going to do something horrible to me. The only reason I haven’t deleted this is because they seem to know something about me that only I and my adoptive mother know. Which reminds me, I should call and make sure she’s okay.” He reached for his cell phone. “Yuki, could you please excuse me for a few minutes? Grab your stuff; we’re going to be leaving in a bit.” She bowed slightly and exited the room, closing the door behind her. He dialed the number for his mother in Norway, letting it ring several times before she answered the phone. “Hallo,” his mother said, in a sleepy voice, with her heavy Norwegian accent. “Oh, mom, I’m sorry, I forgot the time difference. How are you?” “Dorian, my baby! Oh, it’s so good to hear your voice. Let me turn down the TV,” she said, as the sound of some local news program got louder and then became inaudible.
“How have you been, darling? Are you well?” she asked, switching from English to Norwegian.
“I am well, mamma. I called because I was concerned about you. How have you been? Has anything unusual happened recently?” “Well, I am fine, but everything around the world is in chaos. I don’t know what to make of it. We have a lot of recent refugees from Iceland after all the volcanoes went off there. I’m sure you heard about it. I was thinking of letting a family stay at the cottage, unless you are planning to visit.” This made him happy to hear because he could use the opportunity to surprise her and knew she would be excited to see him. “As a matter of fact, I am coming, and I’ll be bringing a friend. Actually she’s a researcher in my lab- from Japan,” he said, wincing for the impending reaction. “A woman? Oh, how nice! Is she married?” “Okay, Mamma,” he interjected. She ignored him. “I bet she is pretty. Those Japanese women are beautiful.” “Mamma, please. We’ll be leaving tomorrow morning and we’ll reach there sometime around midnight or one a.m. Friday. Don’t worry about picking us up, I’ll rent a car at the airport. Just get the spare room ready for her, I can sleep on the couch. We’ll go to the cottage on Saturday. Sound good?” “I can’t wait. I’m so excited, I’ll make some torsk for us and we can have some potetstappe, I’ll make lefse, and we can have-,” She was carrying on when Dorian interrupted. “Mom, there’s two of us, not an army. I’m looking forward to seeing you. I’m going to have to go now. I’ll call when we get to Amsterdam. Love you.” “Okay, I will see you tomorrow, bye-bye. I love you too. Bye-bye. Love you.” She managed to squeeze in a few more before he hung up. “Well, at least she seems to be all right. That’s a relief,” he murmured to himself. He looked at his monitor again and tried to highlight the text in order to figure out how he could see the message but Yuki couldn’t. 'What did they mean by human experiment coming to an end?' He rubbed his hand over the strange implanted disc on the back of his neck. “I wonder if any of this has to do with all that has been going on in the world?” Writing down the words from the email, Dorian traced the image on the screen to his paper and put it in his pocket. He got up from his desk chair and went into the lab to look for Engel. “Has anyone seen Engel?” he asked the nearby students, who were having a conversation about the recent protests. “I think he went- he’s right behind you,” Carol, the pre-med student, replied. “Engel, you got a minute?” “Sure, I got your voice message. What did you need?” Dorian handed him an envelope. “What’s this?” Engel asked, holding it up to the light..
“It’s a small Christmas bonus and a bit extra for helping me out. I need two favors. First, I need you to cover my office hours tomorrow. It shouldn’t be a big deal because I had a small lecture today with most of the students who care about their grade, so tomorrow should be just a few stragglers, if any. Second, I need you to proctor the exams for my classes. That’s what the bonus is for. You won’t have to grade them; it’s going to be a multiple choice exam that the computer can grade. They can take the exam from home if they want to, but I just need you available in case something goes wrong.”
“By the way, nice playing. I saw you performing at the Blind Pig,” he said with admiration. Engel perked up when Dorian mentioned his band. “Thanks. We’ve been practicing together for about 6 months now. I wrote most of the songs. I’m writing one about the attack on the Stock Markets. By the way, have you seen all the military vehicles around here lately? What’s up with that?” “I’m not sure what is going on, I don’t like the looks of it,” Dorian replied. “Anyway, yeah. Uh, no problem, I can cover your office hours and proctor the exam. I’ll get with Kasia and see what I need to do. Where are you going this time? Is everything okay?” “I need to check up on some things. I’ll be gone through the break. Keep an eye on the lab for me. I’m leaving you in charge.” Engel gave him a strange look. “Isn’t Yuki staying? I figured since she was back she would” he stopped as he noticed Kasia giving him the throat-slash sign with her finger. “Right, then. I’ll make sure the lab doesn’t blow up while you’re away,” he said, grinning.
“Oh, I see. You give him a present but not me. So that’s how it is,” Kasia said, with her usual mock derision. “And here I thought you'd already left,” Dorian sighed, and walked over to her desk. “I would never forget about you,” he said, handing her an envelope. “I was only kidding, but I’ll take it anyway. I need the money. I have lots and lots of things to buy with it.” “You have my number; call me if anything comes up. Have the grades submitted to Blackboard and I can post them on Monday. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everybody.” He turned to leave and the students in the lab wished him Merry Christmas and said goodbye. Yuki followed him out of the lab and Dorian handed her an envelope also. She looked a bit sad, as if she was still just another employee to him. “It’s only fair that I compensate you, especially after what you’ve been through and what you’re doing to help me. It’s not Christmas yet,” he said, an off handed suggestion that something of a more personal nature might be in store. She smiled and her mood improved.
“Well, our flight isn’t until tomorrow, so if you have things to do or catch up on, I can come pick you up in the morning if you want,” he said, trying to be polite. She smiled and bumped into him with her hip a bit.
“I shouldn’t leave you alone. What if something happens and I’m not there? Or what if someone comes after me? I won’t have you there to protect me,” she said with a grin. “Okay then, we’ll head to your place and you can pack what you need to and then we’ll grab some dinner and go to my place,” he replied. They left the building together and went to her apartment. When they got inside, he could smell the faint aroma of Asian cooking in the air along with a lemon air freshener that was past its prime. The apartment was very clean and organized; sparsely decorated with a few plants here and there along with a hodge-podge of furniture. Adorning the walls were a few pictures of Yuki and her family at various vacation spots. One picture showed her and her sister wearing skiing outfits with a mountain backdrop. “I didn’t know you skied. I grew up in Colorado, and I love skiing. We have some nice slopes in Norway, maybe we can find time to go,” he said, happy that they had something else in common. “I would very much like that. My sister and I have skied Mt. Fuji since we were little; that picture was taken in Switzerland.” He continued to look about her apartment. Apparently she was fond of rabbits, because she had rabbit slippers, rabbit stuffed animals, rabbit pajamas, bunny earmuffs, and other accouterments strewn throughout the place. “Would you like something to drink?” she asked politely. “No, thanks. I see you’re fond of rabbits….and romance novels, judging by that stack over there,” he said. She smiled and laughed a bit. “Well, not
all
of them are romance novels, just the top seven or so. I also like romantic mysteries, murder-romance, vampire-romance, and science fiction novels.” Dorian began to see where she got her vivid imagination from. The sound of keys rattling could be heard outside of the apartment, followed by a bang at the door. A second later it opened and Yuki's sister stumbled across the threshold with an oversized suitcase in hand. “Careful!” Yuki shouted. “Here, let me help you with that,” Dorian said, reaching for the suitcase. Aki smiled at him. “Who's the cute guy?” she asked in her native tongue. “That is Dr. Lystad, the Professor I work under. He is fluent in Japanese by the way,” she replied. Aki turned a slight shade of pink and smiled. “Hi there, nice to meet you,” Dorian said, offering a handshake. “You two probably have a bit of catching up to do, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” “Where are you going?” Yuki asked impatiently. “I'll be back in a few minutes, keep packing. Oh, and don’t forget to pay your traffic ticket,” he replied. “Says the man who normally needs to be reminded of everything,” she shot back. He laughed. “Okay, you got me there.” At the flower shop down the street, he stopped and picked up a dozen roses along with a bunny balloon. He returned about ten minutes later with the gifts. “I figured this might brighten up the apartment a bit. I know we’re leaving tomorrow, but I wanted to say I'm sorry for all that you've had to go through,” he said, handing her the flowers and balloon. “Oh, it’s so cute. Arigato gozaimasu,” she said, bowing with a huge grin on her face. Aki was gushing over the gifts as well and seemed a bit jealous. Dorian had obviously made her very happy with his gesture, which might have been received as something more than what he intended. He had never found th
e time for romance in his life; his father passed away when he was seventeen, requiring him to work two jobs to help support his mother, sacrificing much of his adolescent years. His mother, once a world renowned concert pianist, continued to work by teaching at the local university and to children in the neighborhood, but it didn’t pay all that much. Still, they managed to keep the cottage in Norway, and when his mother retired and moved back she was able to purchase a small house with assistance from Dorian. By then, his focus was on his work, which consumed much of his personal time and prevented him from forming any relationships.
If the flowers and balloon weren't enough to send Aki over the edge, the revelation that Yuki was going to Europe with Dorian certainly did. After the two had argued for some time Aki closed herself in her room to sulk while Yuki and Dorian carried the bags to the car.