Quantum (4 page)

“Dad, this must be a real shock. I’m sorry that I was so abrupt. It’s just that it’s been a year for me. I wasn’t thinking,” Simla whispered.

“No, it’s okay, Simla. And what about you? How have you been managing?” Raj asked, relieved that the Wanderers had kept his involvement in her mother’s death from her.

“I’ve been living with the Weeks’. The Elders decided that Grayson should look after me until I leave for college. He’s been good to me.”

“Is everyone treating you okay?”

“Nothing has really changed. Same old.”

“Tell me all that’s happened to you in the last year.”

“Dad, I haven’t got time. I have to leave soon,” Simla said sadly. “Olivia is waiting for me. She brought me through. Come back with me.”

“Simla, I can’t. Not yet. Olivia brought you through? Didn’t you learn to wander?”

“I tried, but can’t yet. I’m trying to learn on my own, meditation and all that stuff. The Elders won’t help. They won’t show me how.”

“You’re resourceful, Simla. You’ll find a way. In the meantime, Olivia can transport you. How did you get her to do it?”

“Oh, it was easy really, but there was a lot of luck involved. I went to see Olivia in her office to get the blueprints. I didn’t go alone, though. I figured that I would need some leverage, some really heavy leverage. I tried to contact Dillard to see if he would come with me because I wanted to use him as blackmail. I left a message on his cell to contact me. But he never got back to me. I had to think of something else. I convinced–with a substantial amount of the money you left–a guy, an actor, who looked a bit like Dillard to accompany me to Ames. We had to get him a fake driver’s license, but that wasn’t difficult. All he then had to do was sit in the Ames lobby and flash his license if anyone asked.

“I went up to see Olivia in her office on my own, and left the Dillard stand-in waiting in the lobby. As you can imagine, Olivia was totally uncooperative and practically sneered at me when I asked for the prints. So, I told her to call down to reception, that I had something there for her. I can’t tell you how nail-biting that was, I was hoping she wouldn’t ask him to come up! As soon as she was told that Dillard Stevens was in the lobby, her attitude totally transformed,” Simla laughed.

Raj couldn’t help but laugh with her. He would have given anything to have seen Olivia’s face.

“So, I promised her that I would get rid of him if she just handed over the blueprints
and
arranged for me to transport through the portal. She handed them over very reluctantly and promised that she would transport me through in October when the portal was functional again.

“I waited, for what seemed like ages, going about my daily routine. Anyway, here I am and here are the blueprints,” Simla said proudly, handing over the briefcase to Raj. “Is your buyer here or back home?”

“Back home, which is a big issue. A year has passed. I don’t even know if the deal is on the table anymore. I want you to take this slip of paper with you. It has a cell number on it. Call it when you get to the other end. The number will be a year old, but it’s still worth a try. Ask to speak to Dr. Masterson. If you get him on the line, explain to him that you’re my daughter and that you have a message for him. Ask him if he’s still interested in the deal. If he is, let him know that I’ll be in touch soon. No biggie if he isn’t. It won’t be hard to find another buyer for these blueprints, but I will have to come back home for that. All my contacts are in the other dimension,” he said, looking down and smiling at the briefcase.

“Dad, you should come home with me now. I really have to go, but I don’t want to leave you here. Olivia is not going to wait for me much longer. I can’t risk her leaving me here.”

“Simla, you should go. I do need a contact over there, so I will ask you to go back for now. Make contact with Dr. Masterson if you can. Have Olivia bring you back here in exactly one week. I’ll figure something out by then. Maybe even go back with you. But don’t tell Olivia that.”

“Of course not, Dad! Okay, I better go. Take care of yourself,” she said, and hurriedly kissed him on his cheek.

Raj watched her get back into the tiny car and drive into the distance. He wished he’d had more time with her. They still had so much catching up to do. He looked toward the room where Arizona had been sequestered. It was time to get rid of her. She was irrelevant now. It suddenly occurred to him that it was odd that Olivia did not insist that Arizona return with Simla in order for her to release the blueprints. Did she accept that Arizona was to stay with her father, even after all the trouble she went through to get Arizona to move to her dimension in the first place? What was he supposed to do with the pesky teen now? He couldn’t keep her here. He had better things to be getting on with than babysitting. There was, in fact,
no
reason for him to stay here anymore. He did need to be back here in a week to meet Simla again, but he could take off in the meantime and leave Arizona to be dealt with by Dan and Sophie. He didn’t need them anymore, either. He had the blueprints. He was free. He hastily gathered the few items he needed and walked off toward the road. He would catch a ride at the next rest stop.

~

I could hear muffled sounds coming from the living room. I tried the bedroom door again, it was firmly locked. The knob didn’t give at all, no matter how hard I tried turning it. I contemplated banging the door down. That wouldn’t exactly be a new accomplishment for me. I had done it before, out of anger, in my own house. However, I had learned to weigh the consequences. Months of therapy had taught me that, if nothing else. There were at least three of them on the other side of this door. I felt fairly confident that I would be able to handle Raj and Sophie, however there was no chance of me getting past Dan. Dan had said he would protect me from Raj, so it was best not to anger him at this point. Appealing to his gentler nature would probably be the most efficient way to get out of here. I’d wait until I was left alone with him again. Perhaps even try pretend crying… I rolled my eyes at the thought.

I wondered what was going on out there. Had Simla arrived? Should I try to get her attention? We were sort of friends after all. She should help me out. I had done so numerous times for her. I hadn’t seen her for a while though; she seemed to have disappeared from school again. That was fairly common, though. Simla had long, unexplained absences from school, always coming back looking deflated. I tried to talk to her about it, but she always brushed me off saying something about
family issues
. Some family issues! Turns out her dad is a kidnapping freak! A criminal. No wonder she always looked so beat. She probably spent
her spare time visiting him in prison. Would she help me if I banged on the door?

I wasn’t even sure she was there. It was probably just Raj, Dan and Sophie and I couldn’t risk enraging them. Why would Simla’s dad have kidnapped me? Did Dad owe him money? Had Dad gotten involved in something really shady that involved Simla’s dad? Sheesh! I put my ear to the door, but could hear absolutely nothing. I looked around for another way out but all the windows were boarded up. I probably could have kicked them out, but not without creating a racket. So I waited.

When the door finally unlocked and opened, Dan came into view. His brows were furrowed and lips pursed. He sighed heavily when he saw me.

“Have you seen the boss?” he muttered.

“No, have you?” I responded. It was immediately apparent that something unexpected was up when Dan turned around and shrugged at Sophie.

“What’s going on?” I asked, prompting Dan to turn back toward me.

He heaved his shoulders up and down and sighed.

“Sophie, we need to take Arizona back to her parents and then deal with Raj. We can’t do much while we have her here with us. We can’t just leave her here, she’s just a kid.”

Sophie came into the room, nodding at Dan.

“Arizona, any idea where Raj went?”

I shook my head.

“Did you hear anything? Was a girl here? Did he leave with her?”

“Look, I did try to listen through the door, but I couldn’t hear anything. I’ve no idea if Simla was here or not. Why would she be involved with this? What is
this
anyway? Why am I being held here?”

“Shush, don’t talk, I need to think. Stay in here for another ten minutes while Dan and I talk and then we’ll let you know what we’re going to do. But don’t worry. We’re not going to hurt you.”

I nodded and waited in silence as the two of them went back out for their chat, closing the door behind them. Something was definitely up. But, more to the point, I was thirsty and hungry.

I didn’t have to wait long. The door opened and Sophie beckoned me to follow her. I was relieved to see Dan standing in front of the stove cooking.

“I need to use the restroom,” I mumbled. Sophie nodded and pointed me to the hallway bathroom. When I got back, the two of them were sitting down, digging into burgers. I was has happy to spot a third plate waiting for me.

“Dig in, Arizona,” Dan offered, pointing to the plate.

I didn’t need to be told twice. I sat down and dove right in. The juicy meat combined with barbeque sauce and caramelized onions were sheer heaven! “Thanks, Dan! This is
really
good,” I managed to splutter between chews.

Dan nodded. “Sophie?”

“Arizona, Dan and I have decided to let you go. We’re hoping that you’ll keep our names to yourself. We didn’t plan this, this was all Raj’s doing. He seems to have disappeared.”

“Why did you take me in the first place? Is he going to come after me again? Is my dad okay?” I asked, looking to her for some answers.

“Arizona, I won’t answer any questions. All I’m going to say is that
we,
Dan and I, don’t want to keep you captive. So, we are going to drop you off somewhere you can get help to get home.”

“Why can’t you drive me back?”

“We have other plans, and besides, it’s too far,” she said, and then pursed her lips. She wasn’t going to say anymore, that was clear.

I had absolutely no idea how far from home I really was. The drive had been long, but I had no way of knowing where we were. I guess I’d find out soon enough, I thought to myself, as I was directed to take my place in the back of the van again. The journey didn’t take long. Half an hour was my guess, perhaps slightly longer. Shortly after the van stopped, the door opened and Dan let me out.

“Go over to that house there and ring the bell. It’s Kevin’s.”

“Kevin?”

“Oh, drop the act, Arizona. You’re free now,” Dan muttered as he walked back to the driver’s door and got back into the van. I watched the van drive into the distance before I turned to look at the house. It could be a trap. In fact, it almost certainly was. I would be much better off trying to find a cop and getting some real help
. Kevin
? I had no idea who that was, or where I was. I looked around trying to figure out which direction to walk in to get some help. This was a quiet neighborhood. Nice mini mansions with perfectly manicured lawns, but no kids playing outside or anyone for that matter. No one to ask to borrow a cell phone from. As I was deciding which direction to start walking in, I spied a motorcycle turning into the road and making its way down toward me. I hastily started walking up the road, in case it was
Kevin
, I didn’t want to bump into him and face any complications that would entail. I put my head down and covered my face the best I could with my hoodie and walked briskly up the road, but the bike slowed down as it approached me. It stopped and I clenched my fists getting ready to punch the snot out of him–or her–if he tried anything. I watched him take his helmet off and look at me intently, his face breaking into a wide beaming grin.

“Poppet!”