The Miranda Contract (26 page)

She looked out the small window and saw the Melbourne lights twinkling below her. Her phone vibrated and she picked it up, biting her lip as she realized it was Sully. He had wandered back into the car park after her media conference. She’d never seen him so banged-up but he was alive and she threw herself into his arms and let him take her away. But that was hours ago, she knew. Her thumb pressed the connection.

“Sully?” she asked.

“The very same,” his voice came through, throaty and healthy. “Daniel is recovering well. I have had him released into our care and away from the other people.”

Miranda knew Alsana Owens had already started to move in to take advantage. It gave her some pleasure to know the woman would have to get through Sully before she’d be able to get a piece of Dan.

“Is he..?” She didn’t know how to ask.

“He is sleeping,” Sully said.

“But did you tell him about me? Please say you didn’t tell him, Sully.”

“I did not, as requested,” he said.

“Thank you.”

“Your wishes are my commands, Miranda. As always. I shall see to our friend and then return to California. I presume you will return to your father’s house?”

Riverside. Even thinking about the city made her tear up. She could smell the horses, the oil on her father’s work clothes, the Californian breeze, the comfort of family.

She nodded.

“Yes, thank you.”

“You have thanked me already. But until that time we meet at your father’s house, I shall bid you a restful night, child.”

And she tried to rest. She closed her eyes, she breathed deeply. But she couldn’t shake the final images of Dan, scarred and helpless. He was so young, so different to anyone she’d known before. He’d have to grow up now, but on his own terms. She would only complicate things.

Her world was a mess, and it would only get worse now that she had decided to step down from the limelight, no matter what it cost her. She would wait for the furor to die down and then she would start again.

She’d pick up the guitar. She’d find the words, her own words.

And Dan would be struggling too, faced with choices. He would wake up in a new world where he had a chance at everything.

Except her.

Epilogue

Dan

Five weeks later

D
an looked at
the girl across from him. She had wandered into the office on the corner of William and Collins Street just after they’d opened. She didn’t have an appointment. No one had an appointment.

“You want to volunteer for the up-cycled program?” Dan asked, incredulous. He had been given the job of looking after the small portfolio of uberhumans after Alsana Owens had been reassigned to a Canberra office. At first, he resisted, but somehow he found himself behind the desk and wearing a white shirt and tie. The only reminder of Alsana Owens was her desk fan. The government people had thrown it out but Dan rescued it as it was being carted away. He didn’t miss her regular insults, degrading assessments or out and out rudeness, but Dan didn’t want to wash her completely away. He felt out of his depth already, so having a reminder of what he’d replaced felt a little reassuring. He figured he couldn’t possibly be as bad as Alsana Owens. “You know it’s not really a thing you volunteer for, right?”

“Yeah,” the girl said. Her dark brown eyes were holding back tears, he could tell, and she clutched a backpack in her lap. She was a runaway. “I need help with this stuff. I can’t do it by myself anymore.”

“Stuff?”

“I’m like you. I saw you on the TV and I did some research back home. You’re the only one who can…”

Dan held up his hand.

“Don’t say it,” he said. “This is for kids who’ve broken the law… uh, what’s your name?”

“Jess. I’m really serous about this.”

“Right,” Dan said, shrugging. “We don’t really do good kids. We don’t really do serious kids either.”

“Do you want me to break something, then?” Jess asked and picked up the desk fan. Dan reached for it, standing up and reaching out, but Jess pulled it back towards her.

“What? No. It’s just that, I don’t think we can help you,” he said, reaching again.

“Why?” Her eyes were so wide. Tears pushed their way out and Dan sat back down in his chair, the surrender spinning it slightly as he settled. Jess held the fan to her chest.

“We just deal with the bad kids,” Dan said.

“I don’t think you’re bad, Mister Galkin. What you did with Miranda and your grandfather, well, that was kind of … awesome.”

Dan looked to the door. It was closed, but he could see the silhouettes of Sal and Wicks in the front office through the frosted glass. They were having an animated discussion. He could hear the slamming of cabinets. They worked for him, in an indirect way. He looked back at Jess.

“Don’t call me Mister Galkin, okay?” he said, drumming his fingers on the desk. “I’m Dan.”

Jess stretched out her hand, her pack slipping to the floor as she reached right across the wide desk. She still held the fan.

“I’m Jess. I can break things with my mind.”

“Welcome to the program,” Dan said. “Can I get the fan back now?”

After lunch Dan met with the police liaison who had another two candidates for the program. Detective Schwarz had managed to get himself assigned to the job as a consultant, but it was the dark haired Jo Ryan who was the official liaison. Dan brought his staff with him: Wicks and Sally. He still found it difficult to belief he had made management level, with staff of his own. The guys at Birdie’s would have been impressed, if they remembered him at all.

“That’ll be three, then,” Ryan said. She had the files opened on a tablet and Dan had his own in front of him.

“Four, actually,” he said, eyes to the screen. “Just had a volunteer this morning.” He looked up at the police woman and smiled. “She can do weird stuff with her mind.”

“I don’t think you’re allowed to actually recruit them yourself, Dan,” Ryan said slowly.

“See, that’s probably where Alsana got it wrong,” Dan said. “We’re dealing with kids here. It’s not just the files and the court orders. They’re kids, like with problems and stuff.”

“Says the seventeen year old,” Wicks added, raising his eyebrows.

“Like I said, they’re kids and we can help them. Now. Not when it’s too late. We don’t have to wait till they step over the line,” Dan said. “Let’s do some of that pre-emptive stuff.”

“They do it in Sydney,” Sally said, sharing a glance with Dan. “They’ve been doing it there for years.”

“I can’t authorize it,” Ryan said, but there was hesitancy in her voice. “It makes sense, it does. I just have to…”

“It’s taken care of,” Dan said. “Executive decision.”

“Power’s gone to his head already,” Wicks said.

“Your guys tapped me on the shoulder to do this,” Dan said to her. “And I will. None of them has to do what I did, not if I can help it.”

He had floated in the air, a god. Five years before.

While his friends slipped away through the cracks of a broken city square, Dan had lifted into the skies and defied the power of the Celestial Knights. He had resisted them, punished them.

But the power faded.

And he was twelve years old and alone.

Stumbling to the ground, surrounded by blackened concrete and smoldering roads. He fell to his knees, bare hands against the heated surface.

And he was lost.

He couldn’t hear the electronic world, couldn’t feel the hum around him, nor the bathing light of the city’s power.

His father was dead. Reduced to atoms.

His grandfather was gone too. Broken promises cutting him like glass.

It was just Dan.

And the police.

And the sirens.

“I’m calling it,” Dan said, standing up from the meeting table. “Meeting’s over.”

Dan picked up the tablet and slid it into his satchel. Wicks stood by the door and opened it when Dan reached for the handle. The man gave him a grin and they quickly shook hands before Dan left via the stairs, jogging down the final steps and out into Collins Street. He paused as the people moved around him on their way to other places, oblivious to him or who he was in the past. Dan slipped on his shades against the early afternoon sun and breathed in the city.

It’d been five weeks since he defeated his grandfather. Five weeks since Miranda had flown away. Looking up and down the street, he noticed the cranes at work. Melbourne hadn’t fully recovered yet, and he figured he still had time to feel a little broken too.

And yet, the sun was bright and warm against his skin.

Dan smiled and jacked in his earphones.

The world hadn’t ended.

Alsana was gone. He had her office to prove it.

He was free to do what he wanted. Mostly.

As he walked back to his new apartment, a silly Miranda Brody tune started up in his head. Her voice carried him back to the beach even as his legs carried him towards Spencer Street where he shared a place with Tabitha from Birdie’s. It had made some sense. He didn’t have anywhere to live anymore and her place had been reduced to fire, concrete and slag.

Tabitha was on holiday in Europe though, relaxing her way through the insurance money she’d scored from Marco. She promised to return but Dan wasn’t in any hurry to share the new space.

He reached his door and fumbled with his keys. Leaning to pick them up he banged his head against the door and dropped his phone, the plugs coming loose as it hit the hard floor and cracked the screen. Music crooned out of the broken phone, and he knelt to pick it up.

“Are you listening to my music now?”

He looked up and saw a girl in jeans and a Union Jack t-shirt. She’d been waiting for him. Miranda Brody stood with her arms crossed, a smile on her face. Dan picked up the phone and pressed the music off. He stood up slowly.

“This is awkward,” Miranda said, and she looked back to the elevator. “Maybe I should have called first.”

“I tried to come after you,” he said.

She looked back at him quickly, her teeth shining. She’d scored a tan back in California, her olive skin even darker.

“I did, I really did, but they wouldn’t let me. Said I was a dangerous weapon.”

“Flattery,” she said and leaned forward, a hand on his hip while the other touched his jawline. She kissed him and he kissed her back, the taste of cherries bursting from her lips. He held her close, kissing her again, and she pushed him against the door. Miranda pulled back a little, her hands still on his hips.

“I can’t get a passport,” Dan said, eyes closed. She kissed them and he pulled her into a hug, standing there with the sound of trains rushing below.

“I’m here,” Miranda said, finally. “I had to do some things back home, but I’m here now.”

She pulled away again, and looked at him. She touched his short hair with the back of her hand and then pulled at his tie. Dan felt his skin flush and tugged the tie loose, unbuttoning the top of his shirt.

“It’s the new you,” she said.

“It’s just a shirt.”

“Can I come in?”

Dan retrieved the key and stumbled inside. Miranda followed but he couldn’t tell if she was impressed with the interior. It was a two bedroom apartment without any remarkable views of the city. The train lines were close – you could feel their passing – but you could also see the sky and Dan knew the place was his.

“Have you seen him?” Miranda asked, looking at the lounge, slowly walking around with her fingers touching everything. Dan pulled out some water from the fridge.

“Who?”

“Your grandfather.”

Dan clinked glasses together from the cupboard and poured the water. He felt a little overwhelmed by the conversation already, and his hands shook as they poured. He’d been shown photos of the old man: grey and absent from his own body. He was hooked up to a machine that kept him alive but only just.

“They’ve got him someplace. They won’t let me see him.” Dan tapped his temple and smiled. “Dangerous weapon in here, y’know?”

Miranda took one of the glasses.

“They cancelled my contract,” she said.

“Oh crap.” Dan tossed his tie away.

“No, it’s good. I’ve been writing. My own stuff, like you told me.”

Dan didn’t remember telling her that, but he felt good that she was there – with him. She moved to the other rooms, looking inside and making little sounds of approval. Dan sat at the kitchen bench, watching her.

“Are you here for good?” he asked, and she stopped at his bedroom door. “I mean, you’re not going to leave again, right?”

She smiled at him.

“Is this your room?”