Leapholes (2006) (16 page)

"No, Mom, that's not what happened."

"It's all right, darling."

"Mom, I'm telling you the truth."

"Please, just rest, son. The police are going to want to take a statement from you. But I want you to rest until you're able to tell the difference between what's real and what's not real."

He wanted to explain more, but he feared that she would only think that he had really lost his mind. "How's Ainsley?" said Ryan.

"She's fine. Misses her big brother."

"And Sam?"

"If he could talk, he'd say it wasn't very nice the way you left him frozen in the stay position when you bolted out of the house on your way to the bike accident."

Ryan felt bad about that, but it also made him proud to have such an obedient dog. Good boy, Sammy.

They sat in silence for a minute, and then his mother took his hand. "Ryan, why did you leave the house that morning?"

He struggled for the right words, but there was no way to say it without shame. "Because I didn't want to go visit Dad in jail again."

"I wish you would give your father a chance."

"I know."

"Your anger is understandable," she said. "No child wants to have to visit his father in prison. But if your father tells you he's innocent, I wish you would at least consider the possibility that maybe, just maybe, he isn't lying to you."

Ryan took a moment to think about all he'd been through over the past few days. He had seen with his own eyes that bad things can happen to good people. Good people could even find themselves trapped by bad laws, like those passengers thrown overboard on the William Brown. Or like that woman on the bus who was arrested because of her skin color.

Ryan wondered if his father was like them.

"Okay, Mom. As soon as I get out of here, let's go visit him."

"You mean it?"

"Yes. I want to hear what Dad has to say. I really do want to know why an innocent man would confess to a crime he didn't commit."

"I'm sure he'll tell you if you seem willing to accept the truth. But remember. You still may not like what your father has to tell you. The truth is sometimes hard to swallow."

"I understand."

"Good," she said as she squeezed his hand.

Ryan smiled a little, then said, "I'm starving. Would you mind getting me something to eat?"

"Sure. I'll check downstairs in the cafeteria. Why don't you try to get a little more rest while I'm gone?"

"Okay, Mom."

She kissed his forehead and left the room, leaving the door open on her way out. Ryan's head sank back into his pillow. This truly was bizarre. Hit by a car. Gone missing. Found three days later in the exact spot where he'd had his accident. Could he possibly have been wandering around the city all that time, not sure who he was? Could he have imagined the hospital, Kaylee, the casting of lots for a vaccine? He supposed it could have been a dream or some sort of delusion. Except Hezekiah. That lawyer had seemed too real to him. He couldn't have been a dream.

Because Ryan really missed the old geezer.

Ryan suddenly did a double take as a man passed his room in the hallway. He was eerily familiar. He looked exactly like the driver of that car that had hit Ryan on his bicycle. It was the man with the incredibly flat face. Slowly, Ryan slid out of bed. His bare feet came to rest on the cold tile floor. He felt dizzy for an instant, but he soon got his bearings. He disconnected the wires that tethered him to the heart monitor. Then, one step at a time, he walked toward the door.

He stopped, poked his head out, and peered down the hallway. A nurse got onto the elevator. An old woman was being taken to her room in a wheelchair. No sign of Flat Face anywhere. Maybe Ryan had imagined it. Maybe he'd imagined everything. He closed the door, turned and started toward his bed, then stopped short.

Flat Face was sitting on the edge of his bed.

"How did you get in here?" asked Ryan.

"With ease," he said.

Ryan took a half-step back. "What do you want?

"Don't be afraid. My name's Jarvis. I've come on behalf of Hezekiah."

The mention of Hezekiah caught him off guard. If the last few days had truly been nothing but a dream, how did this Jarvis know about the old lawyer?

"You were not dreaming," said Jarvis.

"How did you know I was wondering about that?"

"I would be happy to elaborate, but I know how you reacted to Hezekiah's explanation of how leapholes really work."

"You mean the computerized virtual legal environments?"

"No. I was referring to his other explanation."

"You mean magic?" said Ryan.

"That would be the one," said Jarvis. "I know you don't believe in legal magic."

Ryan gave it a moment's thought. Talk of magic still seemed like something out of fairy tales. But the computer and virtual legal environments sure did seem to leave many things unexplained. "Let's just say I'm still skeptical."

"No problem. I was too. Before I met Hezekiah, I was just a greedy lawyer headed in the direction of Legal Evil. I was what they refer to in the profession as an ambulance chaser."

"What's that?"

"That's another name for a sleazy lawyer who chases after injured people in ambulances. Before they even got to the hospital, I would convince them to sue the person who hurt them. That's how I used to get my clients. And that's how my face ended up this way."

Ryan had been afraid to ask about his flat face. Now that the man had mentioned it, he felt free to inquire. "It is amazingly flat."

"Never chase a parked ambulance," said Jarvis.

Ryan tried not to laugh, so it came out like a snort. Jarvis didn't seem too offended, and Ryan figured it was because he was just kidding anyway.

Suddenly, the door to Ryan's room flew open. Kaylee rushed inside and shut the door behind her. "You found him!" she said to Jarvis.

"Yes, I told you I would," he said.

Ryan looked at Kaylee and said, "What are you doing here?"

"We need your help. Jarvis didn't want me to come along and ask you any favors, because he thought you might be mad at me. But I thought you might be too frightened by him to agree to anything. So I followed him here on my bicycle."

"Well, I guess you're both right. No offense, Jarvis, but you are a little scary looking. And I suppose I am a little mad at you, Kaylee. You did trick me that night we were in those dark cells next to each other. The way you pretended to be afraid and all that."

Kaylee said, "I'm sorry about that. But we can sort that out later. Right now, Hezekiah needs your help. He's in big trouble."

"Did something happen to him?"

Jarvis said, "Oh, I suppose it was inevitable. Hezekiah wasn't kidding when he told you that he's getting old and needs to retire. He really shouldn't be working on so many cases. Anyway, after you left, he was back in his library doing some research."

"You mean leaphole research?"

"Exactly. He used one of those leapholes to check out an old case. And now . . ."

"What?" said Ryan.

Jarvis had a lump in his throat, as if all choked up. "He can't get back."

Ryan folded his arms, his skepticism rising. "Wait a minute. You're trying to tell me that Hezekiah got trapped in a virtual legal environment? You can't get trapped in a virtual environment. It isn't real. There's nowhere to go."

"Maybe it isn't as virtual as you think it is."

"So you're trying to tell me that Hezekiah is lost?"

Kaylee said, "He's definitely not lost. No one knows his way in and out of cases better than Hezekiah."

"Did he run out of leapholes?"

"Are you kidding?" said Kaylee. "Nobody has earned more leapholes than Hezekiah."

"Then why can't he get back?"

Kaylee and Jarvis exchanged glances, as if coming to a silent agreement that Kaylee should do the rest of the talking. "I don't think it's really a matter of not being able to come back. I think he's too ashamed to come back."

"What does Hezekiah have to be ashamed of?"

"It's like Hezekiah told you," said Kaylee. "He is about to retire. You were his chosen replacement. He selected you from millions of other kids. And you refused. He failed at the most important mission in his life, which is to preserve the future of the Society."

"I wasn't trying to embarrass him."

"I'm afraid you have," said Kaylee. "Now it's really up to you to show him that he didn't fail."

"You mean I have to agree to become a Legal Eagle?"

"At least tell him that you'll think about it," she said. "Give him enough hope to draw him back. Let him save face."

"And then what happens?"

"You'll restore his confidence. No one can be a Legal Eagle without self-confidence. Hezekiah has to start believing in himself again. Then he can get back through the leaphole."

"And if I don't do it?"

"I'm afraid he'll be trapped there forever. And I just pray that he doesn't bump into Legal Evil while he's in this weakened state."

Ryan smiled knowingly. "Now I see where this is headed. Is this some kind of ploy that you and Hezekiah cooked up to get me to come back and join his Society of Legal Eagles?"

"It's not a ploy," said Kaylee. "Jarvis and I didn't come here to argue with you about whether leapholes are real or virtual. All I can tell you is that this is a real emergency. Somebody has to help Hezekiah."

"Why don't you two help him?" Ryan asked.

"First of all, Jarvis is not a Legal Eagle."

"You're not?" said Ryan.

Jarvis shook his head. "I'm not even a candidate for the Society. When Hezekiah gave me the test, I failed miserably. But you passed, Ryan. That means you can use Hezekiah's leapholes and bring back Hezekiah."

Ryan looked at Kaylee and said, "You can do it. Hezekiah said you're the newest member of the Society. Just go find him and tell him that I'm thinking about becoming a Legal Eagle."

"He'd never believe it unless he sees you and hears the words come from your own mouth."

"Do you actually expect me to do this by myself?" said Ryan.

"No. Jarvis and I will go with you. We just need your help in convincing Hezekiah that he isn't a failure. That he has nothing to be ashamed of."

Ryan thought about it. He still didn't know what to make of these leapholes, whether they were real or virtual. But the questions were starting to pile up, and he remembered what Hezekiah had told him about Legal Evil. If leapholes wer
e r
eal--or if there was something about them that he still didn't quite understand--he hated to think of Hezekiah stranded someplace, possibly a bad place, unable or unwilling to save himself.

Ryan asked, "How long will this take?"

"Not long."

"What about my mom? She looks like she hasn't slept since the last time I left. She'll freak if I disappear again."

"Why don't you try being honest with her?" said Kaylee. "Explain what you have to do. Trust me. After everything she went through when your father was sent to jail, she'll understand that you're doing the right thing."

"She'll never believe it. I started to explain, and she thought I had a fever."

"Then don't tell her," said Kaylee.

"I have to tell her."

"No, what I meant was, don't tell her, show her. That's what I did with my parents. Jarvis can take you and your mother to Hezekiah's office. You can show her Hezekiah's leapholes. She can decide for herself whether to let you help."

Kaylee was making it hard to say no. Ryan said, "Let me think about it."

"There's no time to waste. This is urgent."

Ryan really did admire Hezekiah, and he didn't like the angry terms on which he'd left. Beyond that, perhaps this was his golden opportunity to sort out these leapholes, virtual legal environments, and the so-called magic that Hezekiah had talked about. Most intriguing of all, it might even be a chance to solve Hezekiah's riddle about Legal Evil--"Legal Evil lives where the brood follows the dam."

The more he thought about it, the more impossible it was to refuse.

"All right. I'll give it a try."

"Great," said Kaylee. "Now, the first thing you have to do is convince your mother that you're ready to leave the hospital. Do it today."

"Fine. I can't wait to get out of this place anyway."

Jarvis handed him a business card. "As soon as you get home, dial this number. We'll set up a meeting with your mother at Hezekiah's office."

"Okay," said Ryan.

"Thank you," said Jarvis.

"Yes, thanks a ton," said Kaylee. Then she and Jarvis started out of the room.

"One more thing," said Ryan. Jarvis continued down the hall, but Kaylee stopped in the doorway. "What is it, Ryan?"

"You know, I really was mad at you. I understand that everything you said and did was part of the test Hezekiah designed for me. But it still wasn't very nice the way you tricked me. Especially that night we spent in the dungeon, when you pretended to be so scared. The truth was, you could have gotten up and left anytime you felt like it."