Perception (13 page)

“You looked really
angry to me, at the Sleiman rally on TV.”

“Yeah, that day I was
angry.”

Was it because of me?
Because of what he’d heard my parents say?

“Do you miss him?” I asked.

Noah tapped his ring,
and called for his photo gallery. A series of pictures flashed in the space in
front of us. I recognized the cabin picture from Noah’s photo wall in his room.

“My dad used to take
us camping,” Noah said. “He believed getting away from the city was good for
the soul and bonded us as a family. At the time I didn’t pay attention to that
kind of talk. I was just happy to be canoeing and fishing and cooking food over
a fire outside.”

He turned the photo
image function off. “We stopped going when the movement gained momentum. It
kind of took over his life by the end.”

We arrived at our
stop, and I followed Noah off the pod.

The eastern sector
was
kind of sleazy. The neighborhood was a mix of residential and industrial. The
single-family homes were small and needed paint, and they were tucked in
tightly between overcrowded apartment blocks. Laundry hung from the railings
and loud music was pumping out of open windows and doors. The day had warmed to
uncomfortable levels, and the lack of AC had made the inhabitants irritable. I
could hear a domestic fight coming from one of the apartments.

Teens from the area
gathered in groups in poorly manicured yards and on street corners, smoking
cigarettes and some already consuming beer. They eyed us warily as we
approached a group close to the area where Liam had been found. Noah
protectively tucked me behind him.

“Hey?” he said,
standing tall with his shoulders back, showing no fear. “Anyone here seen a guy
hanging around lately? Someone not from around these parts? Tall, blond, blue
eyes?”

One of the kids, a
tough looking guy with worn clothes stepped forward. “Who wants to know?”

“I do.” I moved out
from behind Noah. “He was my brother.”

Noah added, “His body
was found around here recently. By a kid. You heard of anything?”

The guy nodded and
pointed. “Two blocks south, one west. Blue house. Ask for Dane.”

Noah thanked him
before turning south. Even though I’d told myself I wouldn’t, I took Noah’s
hand again, wanting the security it afforded.  He glanced down at our clasped
hands but didn’t pull away.

I waited until we
were out of range of the gang before asking, “Were you there?”

“Was I where?”

“With your father.
When he died.” I wanted to hear the story from him. We didn’t really focus that
much on rebel groups in the Sol City educational system.

His nod was subtle, I
almost missed it.

“What happened?”

“There was a rally in
front of the church. A large crowd had gathered, filling up the entire square.
Pedestrians blocked passage to the transit stations, waving placards. There
were other smaller groups protesting the rally, GAP supporters.

“One of them pulled a
gun from his jacket. I was standing two people away from my dad, and I saw him
pull it out. It had a silencer on the tip and I was so stunned I couldn’t
believe it was actually happening. It felt like time had stopped.

“I shouted for my dad
to watch out, but it was too late. The man had pulled the trigger. Clear shot
to the head.”

I squeezed his hand, wishing
there was more I could do to comfort him. “That’s awful. How old were you?”

“Fifteen. It was
three years ago.”

“You’re probably the
only person I know who might actually understand what I’m going through right
now.”

“I have a pretty good
idea.”

“What I don’t
understand, and don’t take this the wrong way, but how can you still believe in
God after watching your dad die right in front of you like that?”

“It was because of my
belief in God that I was able to keep going.”

“Because you think your
dad’s in a better place?”

“Yeah, that’s part of
it.”

“I can see how you’d
find comfort in myths like that, no offense. I wish I believed Liam was in a
better place.”

“You don’t believe in
heaven and hell?”

“No. I believe that
when you die, you’re just gone. All we have is the life we have here and now.
That’s why I believe in GAP technology. It’s why I’m so furious that someone
stole my brother’s only chance at living away from him.”

“So now you want
justice?”

“No, I want
vengeance. Don’t you? Don’t you want to see the person who killed your dad
suffer?”

Noah paused briefly
to study me. “I think that’s a dangerous place to go. I’m sad my dad died, but
I don’t want vengeance. I want justice. And not just for me but justice for
everyone. This is why I oppose GAP technology. Not only does it mess with man’s
make-up and destiny, but it’s a crutch for the very rich.”

Our hands broke apart
as we reached the corner and made the turn.

He continued. “Do you
even know how much it costs to get altered genetically, specifically to get the
extended-life gene manipulation?”

I had a good idea,
and now that I was discussing it with a natural, it made me uncomfortable . “Around
seven hundred and fifty thousand a person.”

“That’s right. Three
quarters of a mil. I hate to break the news to you, but most of the world can’t
swing that for one family member, much less all of them.”

“But if money weren’t
an issue,” I said, “if someone offered to do the procedure on you for free,
would you do it?”

“No.”

“What if they
promised to do your whole family? Just think, an extra hundred years.”

He shook his head. “I
think the first hundred years are long enough.”

I pointed to a blue
house. “That must be it.”

Noah led the way to
the front door, again positioning me carefully behind him. It warmed me inside
the way he acted protective of me.

A grey-haired woman in
curlers answered the ragged-looking screen door. The TV in her front room had a
daytime soap opera playing at full volume. “Yeah?” she shouted over the noise.

Noah answered, “I’m
looking for Dane.”

She eyed us up and
down and must have decided we looked harmless as she then bellowed for Dane
over her shoulder.

A kid about fourteen
sauntered up the basement steps.
He had hair that
looked like it hadn’t seen a comb in years, and acne dotted skin.

“What?” he said.

“Some people here for
you,” the woman barked, then returned to her daytime show.

The kid opened the
screen door and joined us on the cement steps. “What’d ya want?”

“We heard you were
one of the kids who found a body in the neighborhood,” Noah began.

“So?”

“He was my brother,” I
said. “Can you tell us where you found him?”

He pointed. “A bunch
of us were biking in that empty field over there. He was lying in the tall
grass.”

“Had you seen this
person before?” Noah asked. “When he was alive?”

“Yeah. Him and his
friends hung out in that building over there.” Dane pointed down the block,
west of his house. All the buildings were dark and boarded up, yards overgrown
with wild grasses and weeds.

“Which one?” I said.

“The warehouse in the
middle.”

“It looks abandoned.”

“Yeah, they all are.
I seen some guys who weren’t from here go in and out of that warehouse a lot in
the last few weeks. He was one of them.”

“What did the others
look like?” Noah asked.

“I don’t know. Older
than you. Blond hair, tall. At least three of them were. One of them had red
hair.”

I caught Noah’s eye.
It was
his
Dexter.

After we thanked the
kid, I followed Noah as we walked the half block to the warehouse. Not
surprisingly, it was locked. The grime-covered windows had security bars welded
over them. I tried to peer inside, but it was too dark to see anything.

“What was Liam doing
here?” I said. “And who were the other two guys?”

“How many tall, blond
guys do you know?” Noah asked as he climbed an electrical box and stretched out
to look in a second story window.

“A lot.”

“How many do you know
that hung out with your brother?”

“A few.”

“Okay, how many that
worked closely with him?”

I swallowed. “Two.
Mitchell and Jackson.”

“Then I would say you’re
right to think Jackson’s hiding something from you.” Noah jumped back to the
ground. “Let’s go.”

“We have to get
inside.”

“Not we.”

“Yes,
we
!”

Noah let out a
frustrated breath. “Ok, fine. But
we
have to wait until its dark. Unless
you
want to know what the inside of a jail in LA looks like.”

I gave him a hard
look. “My schedule’s free.”

We headed back toward
the pod station. I pulled a water bottle out of my bag and took a drink. Then I
handed it to Noah. Again, my gesture seemed to take him by surprise, but he
took the offering.

I watched his Adam’s
apple bob as he swallowed. His lips were wet when he pulled the bottle away. If
he weren’t a natural I wasn’t sure I would stop myself from testing those lips
out.

I glanced away,
aghast at my inappropriate thoughts.

I forced myself to
refocus. “Do you have any idea what Dexter might’ve had to do with my brother?
Other than drug sales, I mean.”

“Nope.”  He handed me
my bottle.

“Is Dexter a
scientist?”

“Not in the true
sense of the word.”

“Right. He’s good at
pharmaceuticals. Look, I should go home soon, at least check in with my parents
so they don’t freak.” I adjusted the strap of my shoulder bag. “I’m sure they’ll
be in bed early tonight. I can sneak away again around nine.”

“I’ll meet you outside
the gate.”

The pod arrived, and we
hopped on. This time I didn’t worry about sitting too close to Noah. I enjoyed
his company and needed his help. Once this nightmare was over, I’d probably
never see him again anyway.

The thought didn’t
actually comfort me.

But he wasn’t
interested in me like that. He was with me because of the money. I couldn’t
forget that.

“Okay, but before
then,” I started, “before I go back, I’m wondering if I can ask for a favor?”

He eyed me carefully.

“What?”

I held out my hand. “I
want you to scan my chip. One of my files is locked. I want you to get Anthony
to break into it.”

Noah scrunched his
face. “Isn’t that breaking and entering?”

“You can’t break and
enter your own files. They’re
my
files.” I changed my tactic. He hadn’t
warmed up to me enough to do this as a favor, but he seemed to respond to
money. “I’ll hire you. Think of it as another job.”

He exhaled. “You
don’t have to pay me. I’ll do it as a friend.”

The word
friend
made
my heart leap a little. I didn’t know why I even wanted his friendship, I just
knew I did.

And maybe I even
needed it.

He took me back to
his house.

“Ma?” he called out.

Saundra exited the
kitchen. Her eyes narrowed as they moved over the scene of the two of us together.

“Noah?” she finally
choked out.

“Ma, it’s Zoe
Vanderveen.”

She flashed him a
quick look—obviously she knew who I was. She cleared her throat. “Miss
Vanderveen, may I offer my condolences. I’m so sorry to hear about your
brother.”

“Thank you,” I said.
“Please call me Zoe.”

Uncertainty remained
on Saundra’s face as she returned to her position in the recliner. I expected
she got a call not to come to our house today with such a personal scene
unfolding. She seemed too frail to be going into work, anyway. Her eyes kept
darting our way, and I expected Noah would get questioned thoroughly later on.

He motioned with a
tilt of his head for me to follow him to his room, purposely leaving the door
cracked open for the sake of his mother.

“Give me your hand,”
he said, picking up his scanning device.

I offered my hand,
and he held it like a gift. He pressed the fleshy area that concealed my chip
with his thumb and forefinger, feeling the form of the small tubular module.

The motion felt so
intimate. My heart raced, and I couldn’t stop staring at him. His dark eyes
moved from my hand to my face and held my gaze. I swallowed.

He broke eye contact,
then ran the scanner over the chip. He turned to his monitor. “So what are we
looking for?”