The Six: Complete Series (20 page)

His blood had to be boiling. She knew that there was nothing he hated more than secrets. They had always been brutally honest with each other and it made them stronger. As much as she wanted to tell him, he wasn’t ready to hear what she had to say.

“Are you listening to me?”

Hannah cuddled up against the big fluffy pillow her mom had bought and rested her head. The newscasters greeted her like they were old friends. Jill Garcia and Peter Howard smiled as they commented on the beautiful weather and a visit to the city by the Vice President. Then Jill’s face turned from joyous to deadly serious.

“On a sad note today,” she said, “a beloved third grader was killed today at Carter Elementary School.”

It was the same story from the police station. It was that teacher from the school who had been shot by the baseball player. She grabbed the remote and turned up the volume. Jill had thrown the story to bright-eyed blonde reporter with the microphone poised and ready at her lips. “Christopher Kimball, 28, was shot by a visitor to the school. We are being told that the shooter had been brought in to speak the students of his class. No children were harmed in the assault.”

The news flipped from the blonde to a parent who clutched an unseen child to her side. “I couldn’t believe it when I heard it. We all loved Mr. Kimball. My son loved him.”

Another parent came on the screen more annoyed than reflective. “He pulled out a gun in front of my child. She’ll have nightmares for years. There needs to be better security in our schools.”

A middle-aged man who was quickly identified as the principal, spoke in measured tones to the camera. “The police are going after the man who did this. This, however, was a random act. Our schools are very safe. No parent needs to be afraid to send their child to school.”

The reporter came back on the screen with ambulances and police cars parked behind her. “The police have told us that the shooter is currently not in custody but they have a name they will release to the public shortly. Carter Elementary will be closed for the rest of the week and counseling will be provided to the students.” The blonde signed off and Jill moved deftly to a story about gas prices.

They didn’t mention the baseball player. If they knew who it was that did it, then why not just say they were on the lookout for him?

Kyle stood in the kitchen with a beer bottle sticking out of his mouth. “What?” he said as he set it down.

She pointed to the screen. “Why didn’t they say his name?”

He shrugged.

He was mad, really mad. It never got this far usually. “Just answer me. Why wouldn’t they say his name?”

“How should I know?” Kyle fiddled with the books on the shelf and walked around desperately waiting for an apology. There were too many thoughts that rustled in her head to apologize now. He would understand later why she couldn’t tell him.

Kyle’s last girlfriend had cheated on him with his best friend. His parents broke up because of his father’s secret gambling addiction. He always assumed the worst when people kept secrets. She would need to lie. It would only be a white lie, nothing major. All she wanted was her fiance on her side right now.

“Kyle, please. I was at work,” she said.

“Until six. You work until six. Where were you for four hours after that?”

“One of the baristas got really....sick. She was in rough shape.” She ran through her encyclopedia of believable illnesses.

“Oh really? What was wrong with her?”

She pulled at the edges of the pillow. “She just collapsed. Like she was making an americano one second and the next she was flat on the ground. It was very scary.”

He was unfazed. “So why couldn’t you answer your phone?”

Four hours was a long time to ignore him. “Her parents were out of town so I needed to do all the paperwork and stay with her for all the tests. She’s just sixteen so she wasn’t taking it really well.”

Kyle shook his head. “Why would you do that to me? You knew I was trying to get a hold of you.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “That girl needed me. Plus they don’t let you use a cell phone in the hospital room.”

She could see him wearing down. Kyle was never one to stay mad long. “I guess.”

“And I’m here now. Why don’t you sit with me?” she said.

Kyle reluctantly moved towards the couch. “Why are you watching the news? You never watch the news.”

The story had shifted to a traffic accident on the freeway. He was right. The last time she’d voluntarily turned on the news was when her aunt was interviewed during a Black Friday report.

The baseball player still bothered her. She knew he was connected but she needed proof. What had they said his name was? Derek? David? No. Dennis. It was Dennis. Kyle had had season tickets to the Giants games since he was in fifth grade. The sheer amount of information about his team that was stored in his head was disturbing and finally useful.

“Hey babe,” she said, “there was this old Giants player in the waiting room with me but I didn’t recognize him. His name’s Dennis.”

Without missing a beat, Kyle answered. “How old was he? ‘Cause there were a couple of Dennis’.”

Shit. They hadn’t said what he looked like. But if he was able to take down a young teacher, he couldn’t be that old. “I don’t know. Maybe like thirtish.”

Kyle pulled out his phone. “That narrows it down. There was this one guy from the mid-90’s named Dennis Gregoire. He was alright, great second baseman. Then there was this guy from maybe like seven years back, Dennis DiMarco. He was amazing. Oh man my friends and I loved him.”

He pulled up a picture of the first guy. “That’s Gregoire. Says he’s living in Florida. Not your guy probably.”

She snuck a peak over for show. There was no telling who her guy was.

“Yeah DiMarco used to show up with these awesome sunglasses and joke around with the kids who got there early. He signed a ball for me and a mitt for my brother. Real cool guy,” he said. “Is this him?” He showed her a picture of a handsome man that stared straight at the camera with a goofy smile on his face.

“Yeah that might be him. Does he live around here?”

Kyle went back to his phone and his face quickly turned from reminiscent and wistful to concerned. “Whoa,” he said.

“What?” she asked.

“I don’t know how I didn’t hear about this. He’s missing,” he said.

“Missing?” She was right. He was a part of this.

He squinted to read the tiny type. “Yeah, wow. Weird story. His wife was having a baby and one second he was there and the next he was gone. I guess no one saw him leave and no one’s heard from him since then. Damn, that was like three weeks ago. Shit, I hope nothing happened to him.”

Lila was a sweet girl but she was damaged goods. This man, this Dennis, seemed to be nothing if not a good guy. What was the connection?

Kyle seemed shell-shocked. “Wow, that really sucks. I hope he’s okay.”

And they had made him commit murder. These people, whoever they were, had put a gun in this man’s hand and made him unravel all the years worth of hard work. Kyle would be crushed when he found out who the lead suspect was in the school shooting.

But, for now, he could live in a world still filled with his heroes.

***

Marie endured the further updates on her brother’s condition with a robotic neutrality. She took in the words and buried them deep in mind to digest later when the stakes didn’t matter.

“...would you like to see him on the news?” Irene said as she pulled out a tablet with a press conference cued up. Even in the paused screenshot, she could see him with his head buried and his wife’s arm around his shoulder for support. He looked broken. She didn’t think she could take much more. To hear his voice again would be too hard.

Marie smiled. “Irene, I understand what you’re doing here, but whatever you think you’re going to accomplish is simply not going to happen. Let’s get this over with, alright?” She moved the tablet back towards Irene.

“Fine,” she said. “I suppose the boys told you about your little surgery.”

Milo had been quite graphic. She didn’t need to hear it all over again. “Yes. I’m aware.”

“And you know what the consequences are for not completing your job, correct?”

“Of course.”

The woman grabbed a yellow folder from the bottom of her stack. “You will be going to Kipling Labs. Have you heard of it?”

“No I haven’t,” she said. Irene knew she was lying. If they had as much information on her as it seemed they did, they knew where her clients worked. She had two regulars who had jobs at Kipling.

“I see,” she said. “Well they do medical research. They got a grant to study a new Alzheimer's drug. Big deal, right?”

“Of course. Terrible disease.”

“You will be go into their labs and distribute this gas into their air ducts.” Irene pulled out a chemical schematic filled with equations and compounds.

“What is that?”

“Doesn’t matter the name,” she said. “If you do your job correctly, they will be immobilized in under twenty seconds.”

“Is it a poisonous gas?” she asked.

Irene shook her head. “Oh no,” she said. “It’ll just knock them out. That’s just the beginning, darling.”

“So what do you want me to do?”

“We know that they have gotten close with this specific batch. We need you to destroy it. We need it gone.”

She bit her tongue to keep from reacting. It went against everything she believed in. The people that this drug could help numbered in the thousands, the millions. As much as it hurt her to not fight back, she kept her plan in motion.

“I want to see my brother.

Irene laughed. “Absolutely not.”

“I want to talk to him. I won’t tell him anything. I just want to offer him some support.”

“No, Marie. You will not speak to your brother. You will do your job and come back without speaking to anyone.”

She pointed at the picture of Kipling Labs. “You know that I treat a few of those lab techs. That’s why you picked me for this. You’re not going to get that teenage brat do this job. You picked me because I know my way around that place and I have the knowledge. I went to medical school. I studied chemistry. You know that I won’t just flush it down the sink.”

“Yes your experience is an asset, but you can’t believe that we couldn’t tell another one of your friends what to do. You’re not that valuable.” Irene let the words linger.

Marie moved her chair back from the table. “No, you need me. There are medical labs all around the country making more powerful medications. You don’t care about mental health. You don’t care if that medicine helps people or not. All you want is the destruction and I’m the only way you’re bringing down Kipling.”

Irene grabbed the folder. “You’re not seeing your brother.”

Marie started to stand. “Then you’re not getting your job done.” Every nerve in her body was frayed at each end.

She didn’t know what to expect next. Irene leaned against the back of her chair with a curious grin on her face. “Is that right?”

Marie gulped. “You don’t scare me, Irene. I will do your job and I’ll do whatever it is that you want. I won’t ask any questions and I won’t go off-book. I promise you that. All I want is to see my brother one more time.”

“You do realize,” she said, “that your husband reported you missing four days ago. The police are looking for you. Not as hard as they’re looking for your sweet niece, but there’s a look-out for dear old Marie.”

She hadn’t thought of that. All she wanted was to see her brother one more time but she hadn’t considered what that would do to everyone else. “I don’t have to see him. I could go in disguise.” The words felt silly the moment they left her mouth.

“Why would you put your dear brother through all this over again? He’s already barely keeping it together. He lost his sister and then his daughter. How is he going to feel when he sees you again. They’re all going to think he’s crazy, aren’t they? If a grieving man walked into your office and said he saw his missing sister, you wouldn’t think he was anything but crazy.”

“I just--”

“Marie, you’re not going to see him. It’s as simple as that. Even if I allowed you to speak to him, it would create ripples that you nor I would not be able to contain. He would live his whole life with the hope that he will find you again and we all know that he isn’t going to.”

Milo had said that there was an exit plan. He knew one guy who got out after doing enough jobs and went back to his family. But Irene made this sound so permanent and hopeless. If she was right and there was no end to this game then what was the point in seeing her brother again. She should let the grieving process begin as soon as possible and let him move on with what was left of his life.

“Let me at least tell him where Brianna is. Let him at least have that closure.”

Irene shook her head. “I’m getting really tired of this, Marie. I’m doing you a favor by just listening to you. This is not a negotiation table. You have one job and you can either do it or we can end this little bartering session right here, right now.”

She had an in. What she was asking for wasn’t extravagant. “I won’t talk to him. I won’t be anywhere near him. Let me just tell someone where you put her. Just let him know that she’s not missing and it’s not possible to get her back. Wouldn’t it be so much better than watching him stand in front of all those microphone and ask for prayers and hope of the people? Let him suffer and live with the fact his daughter was murdered. Let him hurt and let the people hurt. Isn’t that your endgame?”

The words she said sounded painfully callous but she knew that there was an empathetic core to what she was saying. In order to heal, the wound had to air out and sting before it can fix itself. As much as it would kill him to find out the truth, there was no way of disguising what happened. There was no bringing Brianna back. It was better than he knew and can could recover in his own way and in his own time.

“I don’t understand. What are you trying to say? Do you want your little friend Simon to be all over the news for her murder? They will be looking for clues and it will all point to that poor boy.”