Fort Lupton (37 page)

“
What?” Tanesha asked. She
shifted the phone to her other ear.

“
Try it,” Jill repeated.
She was setting out breakfast for Katy in the loft’s little
kitchen.

“
I can’t
really. . .” Tanesha said.

“
I can finish up,” Jeraine
said as he nudged her out of the way.

She smiled her thanks. He rolled his eyes up
to the heavens in a dramatic “Thank God.”

“
I thought you’d burn the
place down,” he said in a whisper.

She blew him a kiss and went to the dining
room table. She opened her laptop, turned it on, and sat down.

“
What do I have to do?”
Tanesha asked.

Still wearing his fleece sleeping onesie,
Jabari climbed onto her lap. She shifted so her lap was free, and
he scooted against her. Jabari was sleepy and warm, so she reached
around him to her computer.

“
Now what?” she
asked.

“
I was missing Jacob,”
Jill said. “And then I turned on the computer.”

“
Oh, I already turned it
on,” Tanesha said.

Heather came in the front door carrying Mack
in his car seat. Tink pulled the door closed behind them. Tanesha
turned to nod in greeting.

“
I don’t know,” Jill said.
“Maybe it doesn’t make a difference.”

“
I’ll turn it off,”
Tanesha said. She reached to turn the computer off. Her hand
hovered over the button. “Did your screen go dark?”

“
Black,” Jill said. “You
know I have that picture Sandy took of Katy and the boys on the
desktop? It wasn’t there.”

“
Yeah,” Tanesha said. “My
desktop’s not there either.”

“
Hey! Do you know
where. . .” Jeraine yelled from the kitchen. He pointed a
spatula at Jabari and waved to Heather. “Never mind.”

“
Is it black?” Jill
asked.

Tink went into the kitchen. Heather took off
her heavy coat and brought Mack over to the table. Mack was sound
asleep.

“
A window, you know like a
video window, is in the middle of a dark field,” Tanesha said.
“What the. . .?”

The smaller box was awash in orange and
yellow. There were dark shadows, like sticks, in the background.
Fin’s face appeared on the screen. He smiled at Tanesha. She looked
down to see if Jabari could see this. He was asleep.

“
He’s there, isn’t he?”
Jill asked.

“
Fin,” Tanesha said into
the phone. She put her hand out, and Fin’s hand appeared on the
screen.

“
Just like Jacob,” Jill
said. “Can he hear you?”

“
No,” Tanesha
said.

“
I had to take a picture
before it shorted out the screen,” Jill said.

Tanesha hit Print Screen and sent the image
to the printer.

“
The print, you know?”
Jill asked. “It came alive when I was in the bedroom.”

“
Alive?” Tanesha said.
“Like sexy?”

“
Like I could see Jake,”
Jill said. “Just his face.”

Jill said something to Katy.

“
And now?” Tanesha
asked.

Jill said something else to Katy before
turning back to the conversation.

“
Sorry,” Jill said. “What
was that?”

“
What’s on the
paper. . . uh . . .the picture, now?” Tanesha
asked.

“
I can still see him,”
Jill said. There was a sound of paper rustling. “He can’t hear me
and I’m not sure he can see me. He just has a goofy look on his
face. I could hear Blane.”

“
Blane?” Tanesha asked.
She looked at Heather.

“
She heard Blane but saw
Jake,” Heather said. “Blane told her that he would wake up
today.”

“
Let’s hope,” Tanesha said
to Heather. Into the phone, she said, “Fin has a weird look on his
face too.”

“
Fin?” Heather
asked.

She hefted herself from the chair to come
around to look. Tanesha shook her head at Heather.

“
Where are they?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Sea of Amber,” Jabari
said.

“
What was that?” Jill
asked.

Tanesha looked down at Jabari. He was
sucking on his thumb and looking at the screen. His dark eyes with
their impossibly long lashes looked at her. He smiled around his
thumb.

“
Sea of Amber,” Tanesha
repeated for Jill.

Tink came out of the kitchen carrying two
bowls of oatmeal. She set them down and went back into the
kitchen.

“
What’s a sea of amber?”
Tanesha asked Jabari.

Jabari just looked at her. Tanesha pulled
his thumb from his mouth and repeated the question. Rodney came in
the front door.

“
Not what,” Jabari
said.

Rodney touched Jabari’s head in greeting. He
looked up at Rodney and gave him a big smile. Rodney kissed
Tanesha’s cheek.

“
What’s that?” Rodney
asked. “Looks like Fin.”

“
Jabari says it’s the Sea
of Amber,” Tanesha said.

“
What’s that?” Jill asked
into the phone.

Sandy’s voice was heard in the background at
Jill’s house.

“
Sandy and Rachel are
here,” Jill said. “Jabari says it’s the Sea of Amber.”

“
He said, ‘Not what,’”
Tanesha said to Rodney.

“
Where,” Jabari
said.

“
Where?” Tanesha and Jill
asked at the same time.

“
Jabari,” Rodney kneeled
down to Jabari’s level, “Is the Sea of Amber a place?”

Jabari stuck his thumb back in his mouth and
nodded.

“
Where is it?” Tanesha
asked at the same time Jill said, “What’s a sea of
amber?”

“
I don’t know,” Jabari
said.

Tanesha and Rodney shared a look.

“
What’s a sea of amber?”
Sandy said in the background.

“
He says he doesn’t know,”
Jill said.

“
No, he knows what a sea
of amber is,” Tanesha said. “He doesn’t know
where
it is.”

“
Jabari, this is
important,” Rodney said. “What is a sea of amber?”

“
It’s a sea of amber.”
Jabari shrugged.

“
Where is it?” Tanesha
asked again.

“
I don’t know,” Jabari
said.

“
Come on, son, I’ll get
you dressed.” Rodney picked up Jabari.

They were almost out of the room when Jabari
said, “She knows.”

Rodney stopped walking. He looked down at
Jabari. Everyone turned to look at Jabari. Tink came out of the
kitchen with two more bowls of oatmeal.

“
Who knows?” Rodney
asked.

Jabari pointed to Heather, who had backed
away from the table. She was standing near the front door. Tink set
the oatmeal down and returned to the kitchen.

“
Uh,” Heather
said.

Everyone turned to look at Heather.

“
What’s happening?” Jill
asked.

“
Jabari says that Heather
knows what a sea of amber is,” Tanesha said. “Heather?”

“
Well. . .”
Heather said.

“
Heather?” Tanesha
asked.

“
It’s not like I know for
sure or anything,” Heather said.

“
What’s going on?” Jill
asked.

“
Heather’s acting weird,”
Tanesha said.

“
Uh,” Heather
said.

“
I’m going to have to call
you back,” Tanesha said into her cell phone.

She hung up on Jill. Hopping to her feet,
she went to Heather.

“
Excuse us,” Tanesha
said.

She walked up to Heather.

“
Well. . . I
. . .” Heather said as she backed away.

“
If you’re going to fight,
can you do it after breakfast?” Tink asked from the table. “I have
to get to that meeting at school — that is, if someone doesn’t kill
me first.”

Tanesha raised an eyebrow to Heather and she
gave an acquiescing nod.

“
Good,” Tink said, and set
two more bowls of oatmeal on the table.

Jeraine came out with a plate of eggs, and
Rodney came down the stairs with a dressed Jabari. Tanesha helped
Jabari into his high chair, and Heather woke Mack. They were just
seated when Tanesha’s computer made a popping sound. The
electricity in the house flickered, and the computer started to
smoke. Tanesha groaned.

“
You backed it up?” Rodney
asked.

Tanesha nodded.

“
Everything?” Rodney
asked.

Tanesha nodded.

“
Let’s eat,” Tink
said.

She sat down next to Rodney. Everyone
settled into doctoring their oatmeal. After a few minutes, Tink
jumped from her seat.

“
It’s on fire,” Tink
said.

Tanesha’s computer was shooting flames.
Everyone jumped to their feet. Jeraine ran to the kitchen for the
extinguisher. Heather grabbed Mack and Tink and pulled them away.
Tanesha picked up Jabari and they went into the back. By the time
the fire was out, the room was full of smoke and fire extinguisher
foam.

“
Why don’t we go out to
breakfast?” Rodney asked. “My treat.”

They turned to look at him.

“
Good thinking,” Jeraine
said.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday morning — 9:12 a.m.

Phoenix, Arizona

“
Where did you get this?”
Agent Angie asked.

Standing in her office, she was reading a
few sheets that she’s pulled out of the manila envelope.

“
Someone gave it to me
last night,” Yvonne said.

Yvonne repeated what she and Dionne had
agreed to say. Agent Angie gave her a long, hard look.

“
Someone?” Agent Angie
asked.

“
It was a woman, I think,”
Yvonne said with a shrug. “I almost left it in the locker room —
you know, after my massage?”

“
Her memory is really not
that great,” Dionne leaned forward to say in a low tone.

“
It’s better than it was,”
Yvonne said.

“
That’s not really saying
much, is it, honey?” Dionne gave Yvonne her practiced
nurse-to-sick-patient look.

Yvonne nodded and did her best to look
embarrassed.

“
And you weren’t there?”
Agent Angie asked.

“
I was still in my
massage,” Dionne said. “I came out, and Yvonne had the envelope.
Well, I insisted on opening it.”

“
You looked at this?”
Agent Angie said.

“
We did,” Dionne said.
“But like Yvonne said, we couldn’t make heads or tails out of that
mess. Can you?”

Agent Angie nodded and looked at the sheet
for a few minutes.

“
Do you know what this
says?” Agent Angie asked.

“
No,” Yvonne
said.

“
As I said before, we
looked at it, but it didn’t make sense to us,” Dionne
said.

“
They are setting up a
whole new business
and
a new website,” Agent Angie said under her breath. “Right
now! Right this minute they. . .”

She tossed the envelope and pages down on
her desk and went to her computer. Yvonne looked at Dionne, and she
nodded. After clicking around for a few minutes, Agent Angie leaned
back in her chair. She scowled and picked up the phone and
dialed.

“
Yes, that’s right,
I. . .” Agent Angie looked up when Max Hargreaves came
into her office.

“
I understand that you
have new information regarding the creation of a new pornography
business using the data and content from the last business,” Max
said.

He was so serious and extreme that Yvonne
almost giggled. Agent Angie’s mouth dropped open. She glanced at
Yvonne and Dionne before looking back at Max.

“
You needed a way to get
the information into the system without a trail of where it came
from,” Agent Angie said.

“
Answer the question,” Max
said.

“
What
question?”

“
Do you or do you not have
information regarding the creation of a new company. . .”
Max started.

“
You can go.” Agent Angie
looked at Yvonne.

“
No, I can’t,” Yvonne
said.

“
It’s done,” Agent Angie
said.

“
No, it’s not,” Dionne
said. “How are you going to catch these sons of bitches without
us?”

Dionne gave her a nod. Agent Angie gave
Dionne a mild, but irritated look before turning back to Max.

“
What did you have in
mind, Agent Hargreaves?” Agent Angie asked.

“
We catch them in the
act,” Max said.

“
And how are we going to
do that?” Agent Angie asked.

Max smiled. Agent Angie looked from Max to
Yvonne and then at Dionne. She scowled for a minute.

“
And if I don’t go along
with this?” Agent Angie asked.

“
You really like that
crummy apartment you’re living in?” Dionne asked.

“
I don’t owe anyone
anything,” Agent Angie said.

Max set his briefcase down on her desk and
opened it. He took out an envelope. He looked at it before handing
it to Agent Angie.