The Subatomic Kid (39 page)

“You mean you’re changing sides and taking up with them?” Angstrom laughed nervously.

“I’m not taking up with them, I’ve been with them all the time,” John declared with a grin. “You’ve lost, old man.”

Kate took a stab at the puzzle as John walked over to join them, leaving Angstrom on a desert island in a strange ocean. “I’ve got it, I think,” she suggested. “It’s him, and him together!”

“You mean John and John,” added Hunter, directly addressing her for the first time without a gun in his hand. The four kids turned and stared at him the way kids do when you’re the enemy, and it doesn’t matter what you say.

“Just a theory,” he said with a smile.

“He’s right,” John said, turning back to face Angstrom. “There’s only one John now, and most of the time he’s just a mild-mannered kid. But if you piss him off, then he becomes the Subatomic Kid, and trust me, you don’t want to meet that guy again.”

As is often the case with superheroes, something momentous happens when they speak with such gravity. It’s as if the universe is a willing participant in their daily affairs. Such was the case with John, because time had flowed surely and inevitably up to the moment when the two halves of the atomic experiment had become one again. No sooner had he spoken than the reality of the world around them began to dissolve into the reality of their own world. Gone was the pizza truck, but back was the limo with the tires blown out. It was as if the universe were just doing a tiny bit of housecleaning, making sure everything was nice and neat again.

To say everyone was stunned would be an understatement. It’s not often that you have reality change right before your eyes. It happened around them gradually—it was as if the molecules of one world were slowly being replaced with those of another. It swept across their range of vision like an unseen curtain from horizon to horizon, and when it was over they were back in the schoolyard, back where it had all begun.

They glanced at one another, and despite all of his super heroic antics, John once again felt himself blush from head to toe. Steve was so happy he jumped up and began running around like a kid in the playground, and Hunter had to admit there was a new number one on the chart of the most amazing things that had ever happened in his life.

All this joy and happiness disgusted Doctor Angstrom. It was the pathetic display of a jubilation he had never known, and now once again he had been denied the opportunity of tasting it. But he was enough of a pragmatist to know when he was beaten, and he was already formulating a plan in his mind for revenge. For now though, there was only one thing he could do; he had to eat a tasteless dish of crow. “You are a dazzling opponent,” Angstrom hissed through clenched teeth. “But we shall cross swords again, let there be no doubt about it.”

Trying to gather up what was left of his arrogant and wounded pride, he spun his wheelchair around and took off, but then he stopped, and turned back with an afterthought that still gave him a small semblance of control. “Mister Hunter,” he ordered, “Please make sure these children are returned to their homes.”

“Yes, sir,” Hunter replied, and with that Doctor Angstrom snaked his way toward the building, brewing up a fresh batch of contempt for his new arch enemy, the Subatomic Kid.

Hunter laughed; he was being probed and he hadn’t realized it because he’d let his guard down. It was natural that the kids didn’t trust him; he’d done nothing but chase them for the last twenty-four hours. “No, on my word of honor, this is no trick; and anyway, after what you did here today, I wouldn’t go up against you again.”

As John stared into the dark eyes of the older warrior, gauging his sincerity, he suddenly felt like he was falling down a tunnel of time, and visions flashed through his head. He saw a much younger Hunter, chained and guarded in the back of an army truck, and then he saw Hunter dressed in the robes of a Buddhist priest outside a temple high in the snowcapped Himalayas.
We’re more alike than you think, kid
. The words just appeared in his mind; Hunter hadn’t spoken, and neither had anyone else.

The four of them tumbled into the car, hardly believing this moment had finally arrived, and as they sat down on the plush leather seats each of them realized how exhausted and hungry they were.

As Hunter climbed into the front of the car, John sat back in his seat and closed his eyes. He was extremely happy. He had fulfilled his obligation to his friends, and he had performed all the tasks the Masters of the Subatomic World had set for him. As sleep very nearly crept up to whisk him away into the arms of Morpheus, it occurred to him that everything he had done was done with one aim in mind: getting back to being a kid again. But the truth was, he would never be a kid again. That boat had left that shore and was sailing slowly and surely toward an unknown landfall, somewhere in the vast ocean of life.

Gazing back at that shore, he had to admit he did feel a pang of regret. But turning around and facing into the wind of change, he was suddenly aware of all the potential for adventure out beyond the horizon of the future. As the visions swirled in his mind, and time sped back and forth juggling memory, he wondered if there was any chance this whole episode of his life was just a dream from which he would awake to find himself the plain old John Smith again, to whom none of the incredible events of the last few days had happened. His dream was rapidly turning into a nightmare, and he struggled back to consciousness, opening his eyes to find Hunter turned in his seat, staring at him.

“I’m not normally happy to be beaten, kid,” he said, “But on this occasion I think it was for the best.”

Kate, Cal, and Tex smiled; they still didn’t quite trust this guy, but they had to admit his confidence was infectious, and he grew on you really easily.

“It’s funny how the right thing has a way of happening all by itself, if you let it,” John observed.

Hunter nodded and smiled. “I have two things to tell you, and then I’ll leave you alone. First, you may have discovered yourself, but this is America, and America has a way of uncovering secrets. And as America goes, so goes the world. Governments don’t like having individuals around who are more powerful than they are, and one day they’ll sniff you on the wind, and agents from those powers will come looking for you.”

John suddenly felt icy fingers reaching up his spine and he shuddered. “We can keep a secret,” Cal said, hoping to lighten the tone of the conversation.

“I have no doubt that you can, son, and if it were only you who knew the secret, I wouldn’t be worried. But there are others who know it; others with agendas.”

“You mean Doctor Angstrom and Doctor Leitz,” Kate said triumphantly, drawing the conclusion.

“Among others,” Hunter continued. “Now these agents will be guys just like me; perhaps not as sophisticated in the ways of the world, but they’ll be guys with families and kids, and dogs, and their job will be to defend their nation from potential threat.”

“Well, we can outwit them,” Tex said. “We outwitted you, didn’t we?”

Hunter plowed on through the mud Tex was slinging with just a narrowing of his eyes. “The thing is, they’re not gonna care if they can catch you or not. They just don’t want you doing business with the opposition, and if they can’t catch you, they’ll take you out.”

John gulped; he was both amazed and terrified.

“Now understand,” Hunter warned, “this is all hypothetical, but if it happens, it will happen when you’re least expecting it. I know because I’ve lived in the same shadows these guys inhabit all of my life. I know how they operate, and I know a thing or two about getting them to back off.”

“So John should be really careful, and watch out for strangers and stuff?” Kate asked naively.

Hunter shook his head sadly. “No, because if they can’t get to him directly, they’ll get to him through you. You’re all pawns in the game.”

“So what should we do?” John questioned. This territory was all too familiar—wriggling free from one precarious situation only to be delivered into the jaws of another.

“I told you I had two things to tell you,” Hunter said, “and the second is this. You must train your mind to obey your thoughts; you can’t go through life allowing others to put thoughts in your head. That’s just good advice for a normal kid, but with your unique talent, it is imperative.”

This guy is some kind of mind reader
, John thought; that was exactly the problem that plagued him!

“It’s not a cheap party trick,” Hunter declared, as if he’d heard the thought. “It’s just common sense. Most things are when you strip away the facade of illusion they are wrapped in.”

“You want to help us, don’t you?” Kate asked bluntly.

“I believe that everybody should be free to be themselves,” Hunter said, “unless I’m being paid to take away that freedom, and under normal circumstances there’s always a pressing need for that.”

Hunter pondered the question for a moment. “The future is a blank slate, and every life is unique—yours, theirs, mine, and his,” Hunter said, referring to Steve, who was busy piloting them through the early morning streets, while trying hard not to think about all the mind-boggling events that had taken place and rocked his world.

“And it’s quite possible that none of the events I’ve outlined here will take place. If that’s so, you should all live that unique life, follow it as it unfolds, and go where your dreams take you. On the other hand, should your dreams begin to take on the aspect of a nightmare, and the forces opposing you become immense and incomprehensible, you should give me a call. I’ll do everything in my power to help you unravel the mysteries of subterfuge, and the politics of intrigue.” Using two fingers, Hunter slipped a card from the top pocket of his jacket and handed it to John. “Life is a slippery slope,” he finished. “It pays to have a spare pair of shoes.”

John took the white business card and stared at it. In capital letters just above center was printed, HUNTER, and below that a telephone number. “Thanks,” John said, “I don’t know what to say.”

“Well, I do,” Kate interrupted. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because it feels right,” Hunter said without hesitation. “Why does anyone do anything?” It was the only answer that could possibly have satisfied all four kids equally, and their comfort level rose enough for Cal to move into action.

“Do you mind if I ask you a question that’s been burning in my mind?” Cal asked thoughtfully.

“Shoot,” Hunter countered.

“What would you do if you had an acquaintance who was so starved for love, he made you think he was dead just so he would hear the nice things you would say about him?” John winced, he knew it was out there, and here it came.

“Do you have such an acquaintance?” Hunter shrugged.

“Boy, do we ever,” Tex declared. “He hangs around with us all the time, and we even got him a date with a beautiful girl, but nothing’s ever enough for him.”