“I don’t know. What do you think? Maybe you and me and Evan should move to an island somewhere where nobody remembers your and Evan’s faces.” Christopher had almost forgotten that he wasn’t merely the War’s most wanted man. He was a fugitive in the real world now too—he and Evan. Christopher had heard what Evan did for Addy and how it had made the rounds on the news. “Maybe we can find you a nice local girl there so you don’t have to be our third wheel forever,” Addy teased.
“That sounds nice,” Christopher said, smiling at the thought. “Your hair—the red is growing out. Are you going to dye it again?”
Addy reached up and pulled a few strands of her hair in front of her face to look at the color. “I haven’t decided yet. Evan likes the natural color.” She paused, looking down at her watch. “So, are you ready for this?” she asked, motioning toward the door.
“Yeah,” Christopher answered. He’d never felt so ready for anything in his life. He was ready for the beginning of the end.
Reggie had done what he could to formalize the event. They had drinks in the back of the room—nothing fancy, merely beer in coolers, but even that was something. The room was almost full by the time Christopher and Addy walked in. People had already cracked open the beer. Addy and Christopher didn’t pause at the door, so it took a few moments before anyone noticed that they had arrived. As soon as someone finally saw them, the applause began. It was sparse at first, but grew as each set of eyes in the room found Christopher. When about half the room had caught on, Addy slipped away from Christopher’s side so that he was standing alone. Then she began to clap too. Before long, it was almost everyone. Christopher’s eyes scanned the room. They met Reggie’s and Brian’s. He saw Evan, standing near the back of the room. For a moment, Christopher let himself forget that they hadn’t actually accomplished anything yet. Only one person in the room wasn’t clapping. Maria was standing in a corner, her eyes wet with tears, her arms crossed over her chest.
Reggie took a fork and banged on a beer bottle to draw everyone’s attention. Christopher’s eyes moved from his mother to Reggie. The room became silent. “I wanted to welcome our guest of honor,” Reggie said, his eyes falling on Christopher. “I’m sure he will take the time to speak to each of you if you like. But before we start the mingling, I should note that I have been informed that the Americas have officially joined us and the rest of the world in this one chance to end the War.” Reggie’s words were met with more applause, this time even louder than before. Reggie lifted his beer in the air, “To the end of paranoia,” he said. Everyone in the room raised a glass to Reggie’s toast. Christopher looked over at Maria. This time, even she lifted her glass and smiled.
The mingling began after the toast. People flocked around Christopher. He was the candle to their moths. They came to him with stories to tell about their own youth and their own parents and their own revolts against the War. When the stories were over, they came to him with questions. They asked him for advice about their own plans, their hometown plans to rid the world of the Intelligence Centers. He heard stories about armed boats riding along the coast of Costa Rica, beaching themselves and letting off gunmen like in a miniature Normandy. He heard stories about a frontal assault on a building in the shantytowns of Rio. Then he heard whispers about New York, about explosions, citywide mayhem, and mass hysteria but no specifics. Reggie hadn’t told Christopher anything about New York yet. Christopher heard everything thirdhand. He wanted to know more. He wanted to know what was being done in his name. He’d known that Reggie was hiding something from him. When he met Maria, Christopher thought that might be it, but there was more. Christopher now knew that there was more.
Out of the blue, another beer bottle was being raised and tapped like a bell. Christopher was shocked to see that this time it was Evan who had drawn the attention of the room to himself. He got the attention, apparently more quickly than he had anticipated, since for a few seconds, he stood frozen as everyone stared at him. “Speak,” Addy yelled from the back of the room. That seemed to break Evan’s trance. He cleared his throat and said, “I just wanted to say that Christopher has always been like a brother to me. Neither of us had our own brothers. We only had each other.” Evan’s eyes searched out Christopher in the throng of people. When his eyes connected with Christopher’s, he finished, “No matter what happens, Christopher will always be a brother to me. I am willing to share my brother with all of you in order to get this done. Then, when it’s over, I want my brother back.”
The cheers for Evan’s speech were more muted and less confident than the cheers for Reggie’s had been.
Alejandro was the first person to reach Christopher after Evan spoke. Christopher shook Alejandro’s hand and Alejandro told Christopher where he was from. “Costa Rica,” Christopher echoed, remembering what he’d been told earlier that evening. “Will you be on the boat?”
“No,” Alejandro said with pride, “I will meet the boat on the beach,” and Christopher couldn’t help but be proud too. Then, without warning, the lights went out and the room went dark.
Panic looks different when you’re in a room full of people who’ve been taught since they were young never to panic. It’s not loud and chaotic. It’s silent and it’s swift. Everyone in the room moved through the darkness like they were part of a rehearsed, silent ballet. In seconds, each of them either found cover—in a corner or behind a piece of furniture—or crouched down, making as small a target as possible. Those who had weapons, which were most of them, drew them. Alejandro pulled a knife from his pocket. Christopher saw the shine of the metal. Alejandro’s body blocked everything else. Alejandro was using his own body as a shield, placing it in front of Christopher, putting Christopher’s life ahead of his own. Christopher hated it. With everyone in place with weapons drawn, the room froze and waited. They all knew that there was nowhere to go. They’d stand there, fight there, and win or die there.
A voice cut through the darkness. It was an unexpected whisper. “Everyone stay quiet,” the voice said. “There are people outside the building. We don’t know what they’re doing here, but we’re watching them. Hang tight.” Then the voice was gone and the room was silent again. A few people took the moment to reposition themselves so that they were facing the door, ready to pounce if necessary.
“You don’t have to protect me,” Christopher whispered to Alejandro’s back.
Alejandro lifted his hand, motioning for Christopher to stay quiet. Evan was in the back of the room, not far from where he’d given his toast, squatting down near the floor. Addy was closer to the door, muscles tense, ready to rush the door if it came to that. Maria was across the room from Christopher, her eyes not moving from the spot where she knew her son to be, not ready to lose him again. The silence and the darkness lasted for another twenty minutes. For twenty minutes, nobody moved and nobody made a sound. Then as quickly and unexpectedly as they’d gone off, the lights came back on. Christopher could see the room now, like a statue garden, everyone but him in fighting position.
“False alarm,” the whisperer returned, obviously now a member of Reggie’s security team. “It was just a couple of kids painting graffiti on the building next door. They’re gone now.”
“You sure?” Reggie called out to him, still speaking in his own elevated whisper.
“Yes,” the guard answered. “They’re gone. It was nothing.”
“Okay,” Reggie called out to the room in a normal voice now. “Perhaps that should be our sign to call it a night. I think most of us can hold off on any more adventure until we’re the ones causing it.” Reggie’s declaration was met by murmurs of consent. Without any more fanfare, people started moving toward the door.
Alejandro began walking silently toward the door too. Christopher caught up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. “You didn’t have to do that,” Christopher repeated to Alejandro.
Alejandro turned back toward Chr
istopher. “Yes, I did,” he said. He said nothing more and then turned and headed for the door.
Christopher stayed. He watched the room empty slowly. He waited until almost everyone was gone except for Reggie and a few stragglers, but he kept his eyes on Reggie and not the others. Christopher walked up to Reggie. He didn’t waste any time on formalities. “I want to know what the plan is for New York,” he said.
“I already told you. We’ll find a part for you, something real but safe.”
“I don’t want you to find a part for me. I want to know the details. I want to have a say. I don’t want another person to die in my name while I stand on the edges doing nothing but talking.”
“I can’t,” Reggie replied. “You’ve done everything already, Christopher. You should be proud of what you’ve done for us. I’ll give you something, but I need you to be safe. I’ve gone back on enough promises about you already.” Reggie turned away from Christopher and started to walk away.
“What promises?” Christopher called, confused. He was sick of being confused. “What else are you hiding from me?”
“Promises he made to me,” said a voice behind him. It was Maria. “Years ago I made Reggie promise me that he would protect you from becoming involved in the War. But here you are anyway.”
“Is that why you pushed me to run first?” Christopher asked Reggie.
Reggie nodded. “But then you ended up with Dutty. So I figured that if you were going to choose to fight anyway, I should at least try to give you a gambler’s chance of winning.”
Maria jumped into the conversation again. “But a promise is a promise. So Reggie owed me one promise, and with it I made him promise me that he would keep you out of danger from now on. You’ve done enough already, Christopher. You shouldn’t have to do any more. Let them finish it. It’s their War, not ours.”
“Maybe it’s not your War,” Christopher said to Maria, “but it is mine—at least until it’s over. It’s always been inside of me. I’ve spent my life trying to get it out. Nobody is going to be able to do that for me.” Christopher turned back to Reggie. “I need to know the plan. I’m sick of people making my decisions for me. Besides, you’re hiding something from me, Reggie. I can tell.”
“There are parts of the plan that you’re not going to like,” Reggie answered.
“Those are the parts that I want to know about the most.” Christopher’s voice trembled. Reggie looked at Maria, waiting for a sign from her that it was okay to speak, but she was like a stone. “Don’t look at her,” Christopher said to Reggie. “She has no say in this.”
“But I’m your mother, Christopher,” Maria said.
The three of them stood in the middle of the empty room. Christopher shot Maria a look. He was too kind to respond to her with anything more. The look was enough. The look tore at Maria’s heart. “Tell me what I’m not going to like about the plan,” Christopher demanded of Reggie.
Reggie looked to Maria again, wanting to do right by her, pleading with her with his eyes. “Tell me!” Christopher demanded when Maria refused to respond to Reggie’s stare.
“To be sure that the plan will work, a lot of innocent people are going to get hurt and a lot will probably die,” Reggie said to Christopher. “We’re planting bombs around the city as a diversion. Without the diversion we don’t have a chance.”
“And this is your plan?” Christopher asked. It didn’t seem like a plan that Reggie would devise.
“No,” Reggie admitted. “We have a source on the inside that we’re working with.” Reggie hoped the questioning would die with that.
It almost worked. Christopher didn’t think any more of it. His thoughts were on the plan, but Maria’s thoughts were on the source. “Who is it?” Maria asked, even though, deep down, she already knew.
“We didn’t do it on purpose,” Reggie said, apologizing to both Maria and Christopher now, before they could even be sure what he was apologizing for. “We couldn’t afford to take any shortcuts. Of all the people who could help us, he’s the best by far. He knows everything and no one is more bitter than him.”
“Who are we talking about?” Christopher asked, still not filling in the gaps but feeling nervous all the same.
“Our man inside—,” Reggie started.
“Who is it?” Christopher demanded.
“It’s Jared,” Reggie said. Maria physically flinched when she heard the name.
“The man who killed my father?”
“The man who stole you from me,” Maria said.
“He’s a spy?” Christopher asked, dumbfounded.
“He is now.”
Christopher was in shock. He reacted like a cornered animal, flailing at the greatest threat first. “I want to meet him,” he said, expanding on his demands. Now he wanted everything, every goddamn thing. “I want to meet Jared and I want him to explain the plan to me.”
Reggie looked at Christopher, with deep, sad eyes. “If he’s going to meet Jared, I’m going with him,” Maria announced. She wasn’t about to let him face that demon alone.
“This isn’t negotiable, Reggie,” Christopher said. What had Addy once told him? Nobody gets what they want, and those that do want something else as soon as they get it. But what if all you wanted was for things to make sense?
Fifty-nine
Jared was surprised when Brian called him to arrange the meeting. He thought that his request to meet Christopher was nothing more than a shot in the dark, but there he was, standing in a small apartment on 130th Street on Manhattan’s West Side, waiting. A man named George had patted him down before letting him into the apartment. Jared didn’t complain. He couldn’t blame them, all things considered. “Are you going to pat them down too?” Jared asked, handing George the gun he was carrying before George had a chance to feel it in his belt.
“No,” George answered flatly. So Jared was going to be the only person hated by everyone else in that room and he was also likely going to be the only person in the room who was unarmed. George opened the apartment door and Jared walked inside.
Jared wondered what he was going to say to them. He hadn’t really thought this through. Some things you just can’t plan. Brian had told him that Maria was coming too. Jared didn’t know who else would be there. For all he knew, this might be a setup. For all Jared knew, he wasn’t going to walk out of this apartment alive. He’d made peace with that. He was an old man by soldier standards. If this is supposed to be the end, Jared thought to himself, at least there’ll be some drama to it.
Jared paced up and down inside the apartment, waiting for the others, unable to sit for more than a few seconds. He was trying to burn nervous energy. He’d been pacing for more than twenty minutes when he finally heard a sound outside the door. He saw the doorknob begin to turn. Only then did he sit down. He picked a seat facing the door. He watched as the doorknob finished turning. He watched the door begin to open. The next thing he knew, he was pulled back in time.
When the door swung open, Jared saw his old friend Joseph standing in front of him, but the strangest part was, it wasn’t the Joseph from the last time Jared had seen him alive. It was the Joseph from when they were both boys growing up. It was the Joseph from high school in New Jersey. Jared almost said something to his old friend and then the two people standing behind Joseph broke his trance. Then it wasn’t Joseph anymore. It was a boy. The similarities were still there, but there were differences too. The boy was smaller than Joseph and he had an intensity about him that Jared never remembered seeing in Joseph—not until that last time they met anyway.
“You must be Christopher,” Jared said to the boy as he stepped into the room. Maria was right behind him. She was so much older than Jared remembered. Time had hardened her. Behind Maria was a tall black man. Jared recognized Reggie too, but only because he’d seen his picture at work. Reggie was one of the War’s most wanted rebels.
/> “You’re Jared?” Christopher asked, staring at the old man sitting in front of him. He was thin, almost frail. His hair was thinning and his skin was peppered with age spots. The man in the chair didn’t match the powerful image of Jared that Christopher had in his head.
“I am,” Jared said to Christopher. Then he turned to Reggie. “And you must be the infamous Reggie.”
“Well, I guess we got the introductions out of the way,” Reggie said.
“Not all of them,” Maria said, stepping forward and staring at Jared. “Do you remember me?”
“Of course,” Jared responded. “How could I forget the woman who turned my two best friends against me?”
“Enough of that,” Reggie broke in. “That’s not what we’re here for. We don’t have time for the past here.”
“Fair enough,” Jared said. “Then what are we here for?”
“Christopher wanted to know about the plan,” Reggie told him.
“So you brought him here so that I could tell him what you were afraid to?”
“I’ve told him. He wanted to hear it from you,” Reggie said. “We told him it was your plan.”
“You told him all the details?” Jared asked Reggie with a smile.
“No,” Reggie admitted. “Not all the details.”
“Okay,” Jared said. “Have a seat.” Jared motioned to the chair across from him. Christopher moved slowly toward the chair. “Don’t worry, Christopher,” Jared said. “They patted me down before I came in here. You’re safe. So you want to know about the plan?”