Quantum (7 page)

“Well, I came back from hockey camp and….”

“Hockey camp?” David interrupted, his brows furrowed.

“Yeah, an all-girls ice hockey camp. It was a five-day camp. I left on Saturday and came back home to Princeton on Thursday. I was hoping Dad would be back from Atlantic City by then, but he wasn’t.” I could see David and his mother shooting each other quizzical, pointed looks. “What are those looks all about?”

“Oh, nothing. Please do continue, Arizona,” Inez encouraged.

“All right. As I said, I came home to an empty place. Christian, one of my friends, picked me up from school and drove me home, not that it’s relevant, but anyhow. I was tired. It was late. I had been up since very early so I went to bed. I didn’t even change. I’m not sure at what time, but I was woken up by the sound of glass breaking and I was then seized by Dan–one of Raj’s pals. The other one, Sophie, drugged me and I was put into the back of a van. They drove me to a cottage here in California. Nothing much really happened there. The important stuff seemed to have happened when I was locked up in a bedroom. Next thing I knew, Raj had apparently disappeared and Dan and Sophie just wanted to get rid of me. So, they dropped me off outside this house and told me someone would help me. I was standing outside thinking about the pros and cons of knocking at a completely strange door versus trying to find a cop when you came riding up on your motorcycle,” I said, looking over at David. “You know the rest. Can you help me get home? If not, I’m sure the cops will be able to help. My mom actually lives here in Mountain View. We could try to find her.”

“What’s your mom’s name and where do you think we could find her?” Inez asked, looking at me intently.

“Her name is Olivia Stevens. She works at Ames, I think. She is a physicist. I tried to contact her from the hospital with no luck. But, I’m sure the cops could track her down. I would much prefer it if you could help me get back to my dad, though. Mom and I don’t get along. So, can you?”

“Yes, that’s no problem. Why do you think Raj took you?” Inez continued.

“Haven’t a clue. At first I thought it was mistaken identity. But then I thought maybe my dad had gotten into some gambling debts and Raj was holding me until my dad paid him back. But, I really don’t know. The fact that he’s Simla’s dad is really strange. I suppose they may gamble together, I don’t know. Can I ask something now? How come you think you know me, David? And how do you know Raj?”

David cleared his throat, throwing his mother a glance and reaching for her hand. This was getting too weird. “Arizona, I guess I don’t. I thought you were someone else.”

“Someone else called Arizona? Why were you wondering about my hair? My friend, Christian, said something about it earlier as well. What’s going on?”

“I’ve no idea,” David shrugged. “Raj stabbed my dad, right here in this house. He is very dangerous. Can you try calling your dad again? Mom and I are going to go to the kitchen and get on the computer to figure out how to get you home, okay? Here’s my cell.”

I watched them walk back out and then dialed Dad and waited for his answering service.

“Hello?”

“Dad, it’s me! Arizona!”

I
was so relieved when Dad finally picked up his phone. Turns out that he’d gotten invited to a private poker game–who can resist that?–and lost all sense of time. He sounded upbeat and pleased with himself, having done pretty well. I decided not to worry him about my current predicament, other than to ask him to transfer some money to my card, since he now had some. He was going to head home tomorrow, so I guess I would wait and update him when I got back home. I wasn’t in danger anymore. And even if I was, there wasn’t a thing he could do about it anyway. So why worry him? At least now I’d have the money for airfare. I was going to be fine.

David and his mom looked sorta at odds with each other when they walked back into the room. Probably sick of having me to deal with when they needed to be with David’s dad. “Hey, I got hold of Dad! He transferred money over to my account, so I’m okay. I’m going to call a cab to take me to the airport and I’ll be out of your hair.”

Inez nodded at me. “Arizona, I’m relieved that you got hold of your dad. Is he okay?”

“Yeah, he’s been busy, but he’ll be back home tomorrow.”

“Did you tell him about Raj?” David asked.

“No, there’s no point in that until I get home.”

“But what if Raj comes back for you?”

“Eh? I doubt it. He’s the one who disappeared. Probably after he realized that he got the wrong person in the first place. How do you know him anyway?”

Inez held a bit of paper up. “We’ve checked the flight times.
 
The soonest I can get you on a flight is tomorrow afternoon. You are very welcome to hang out here until then.”

 
I nodded. “Great, thank you. Let me give you my debit card so you can book it,” I said, scrambling for it in my pocket, realizing that I didn’t have it with me. Well, Dad could book my flight. I’d just call him back. I’d have to explain to him what I was doing in California. Sheesh.

David shook his head. “No need. We’ll book it for you, it’s just easier. I’m going to fly out to Jersey with you to make sure you get home safely. Okay?”

I was dumbstruck. I’m not five! “No need! I can take care of myself. Really, I appreciate you’re trying to help, but I can travel by myself. I’ve done it heaps of times before.”

Inez shook her head. “I’m sure, Arizona. However, humor me. I’ll feel much better about this if I knew David made sure you get home.”

She looked intense, no point in arguing with her, I could clearly read
that
. So I nodded.

“Good. If that’s all settled, I’ll bid you goodbye. I need to head over and check on Kevin. I’ll call you with an update, David.” She touched his hands and they both closed their eyes–weird.

Once Inez had gone, David and I stared at each other–a bit uncomfortably. We were sort of stuck with each other. I bet his mom had insisted on this and he was annoyed. Well, tough–he shouldn’t have chased me in the first place. This was his fault.

“I’m sorry you’re stuck with me,” I pouted at him. “You can go. I can take care of myself.”

He walked over and sat down beside me, looking at me intently as he did so. “Arizona, I’m happy to do this. Why would you think otherwise?”

“Well, you seem put out. There was something up between you and your mom. I assumed it was about me.”

“It was. But not about me looking after you. It was about taking you back to Princeton before we know what’s going on with Raj,” he said, shrugging his shoulders, looking decidedly miserable.

So miserable, in fact, that I patted him–patted him with a full-blown
you’re-a-really-good-doggie
look on! Geez, what’s wrong with me? I only ever pat Gertrude like that. For whatever reason, I had, in that moment, bizarrely felt the same toward him as I did Gertrude. “I’m sorry! About the pat… don’t know what came over me!”

He guffawed. And took my hand. I instantly felt warm and slightly euphoric. He put his arm around me–like it was the most natural thing in the world to do–and leaned back into the couch with my head resting on his chest. Now, this was
totally
unnatural for me, physical contact with people makes me very uncomfortable. However–for whatever reason–this felt strangely okay. More than okay, I felt safe and warm; I didn’t want to move. So I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling. I could hear his heart, steady comforting beats. I turned my head, so that my face lay resting on his chest. When he started stroking my hair, I wanted to… shut the heck up! I mentally slapped myself, sheesh. What the heck? Where did that come from? Arizona Stevens, wake up! I tried to gather enough strength to pull myself away from David’s arms, but couldn’t. Well, maybe that’s not entirely true. I just really didn’t want to. I just hoped that he couldn’t see my goofy grin. We sat like that for ages, though not long enough, until my uncontrollable big mouth went and spoiled the magic by spewing out questions. Seriously.

“David, how do you know Raj?” And the magic instantly stopped, as David stopped stroking my hair and sat me back in the couch so he could talk to me.
Moment killer
.

“Raj stabbed my dad, that’s how I know him.”

“Why? If that’s too personal a question, it’s okay. I’m just curious, He seems to be the one connection between us. And I was dropped off here….”

David took my hand again and squeezed it slightly. “Arizona, it’s a long story. The short version is that he was after some blueprints and thought that Dad would be able to help him procure them. When he found out that Dad wouldn’t, he stabbed him, pretty bad. He’s a very dangerous, deranged man.”

“Well, how am I connected with all this? What did he want with me?”

“Like you assumed before, it’s probably a case of mistaken identity. What we don’t know is whether Raj has realized this yet or not. He may have let you go because he realized that he had the wrong person. But we can’t be totally sure, which is why I’m concerned about taking you back.”

He relaxed back into the couch, throwing his arm around my shoulder and pulling me back with him. I wasn’t going to spoil it this time. I clenched my jaw shut to keep from speaking again. Talking could wait.

~

He didn’t want to get too far from the cottage, so Raj asked the truck driver to let him out at the third rest stop away from it. The truck driver’s singalong to Shania Twain was driving him crazy anyway. He would check over the blueprints while he waited for Simla to find out if his buyer was still available. It had been a year, so there was a good chance that she wouldn’t even be able to contact him at this point. In which case, he would force Olivia to reset the portal from this end to open back in the present. If that wasn’t possible, he would have to manipulate one of the Wanderers to take him back. These blueprints were useless without a buyer. He would need his data at the other end to find another buyer if Masterson wasn’t interested.

He trudged along to the motel alongside the highway and got himself a room. It was simple, a bit threadbare, but it would do. The TV worked, and that’s all he needed for a week’s entertainment. Most of that time would be spent dreaming about the new yacht he was going to purchase from the proceeds of the sale. He smiled. Things were finally looking up. All he now had to decide is where he wanted to live. The world and its dimensions were his oyster.

~

I woke up with my face firmly planted in a scented, soft pillow. I breathed in the lavender aroma and felt relaxed as I turned over onto my back. A white, distressed chandelier dominated the ceiling. The morning sunrays coming through the uncovered windows played off the sparkly crystals hanging from the chandelier, creating dancing patterns on the light blue walls. I sat up and looked around trying to figure out whose room this was. There were no personal items in the room, so I couldn’t tell if it belonged to a boy or a girl. The books on the bookcase were carefully arranged to look nice, and consisted of a collection of travel books.