Anjali tossed her long black hair. “Do not piss off computer scientists. We may look like nerds, but we fight like ninjas.”
Tristan came back a few minutes later bearing breakfast, and Jian sat up with them while they ate, too.
Anjali ventured little touches and glances at Jian. His reciprocations were tired and slow, and the creases around his eyes seemed to be filled with sorrow.
The airplane’s engines howled around them, and the plane pierced the air and flew northeast. Beige and brown land slowly gave way to the green crumples of mountains below them.
After they finished, Tristan made up a bed for Anjali from one of the recliners next to Jian. When Anjali’s fingers stole over and touched Jian’s hand, he grabbed her and held on tight. His eyes were still shut.
While Tristan made Anjali’s bed, Colleen watched. He was trying to be a good host and was apologetic for getting them into this. He cringed when they thanked him, and remorse lent urgency to his quick attempts to tend to what they needed.
But it was more. There was a caring in his touch and his attention to trying to make things better. Tristan must’ve been a good older brother when he was a farm kid in Iowa. The way he tried to help, the way he knew what people needed without them asking, spoke of someone who’d taken care of kids and done it well.
After they were settled, Tristan returned to Colleen and fell into the seat beside her. “Do you want to take a nap? I can pop out another one of the reclining seats. We haven’t slept much for days, either.”
“I will soon. I’m pretty tired. I think I’ve been running on adrenaline. So, that was a thing we did, huh? We saved our friends from kidnappers. I mean, there were mercenaries, too. But this has been the craziest week I’ve ever had in my life. I don’t even know what to think about things anymore.”
“Yeah,” Tristan said, nodding tiredly and gazing out the porthole as if the clouds outside held answers. “I could use some sleep.”
He was less chipper than when he had been taking care of Jian and Anjali.
Maybe it was all starting to catch up with him.
Maybe there was something else.
“Is something going on?” she asked.
Tristan shrugged, and he kept looking out the window. “A lot has been going on.”
“It’s been crazy, huh? Between writing the Anonymity Plus program for me, and then writing the AnonymityMinusprogram for the Butorins, and then this whole mercenaries kerfuffle and breaking into the hotel, and breaking into GameShack, it’s been a hell of a week. I don’t even know how all of that happened.”
Tristan nodded, but he didn’t say anything.
“And now you have, what, six weeks until we have to get all of that GameShack stock? Is it six weeks or closer to five weeks now?”
Tristan clenched his jaw and continued to look out the window. He glanced at her and back at the plastic window and the clouds beyond, and then he sighed. “Neither.”
“Seven weeks?”
He didn’t answer.
“Or did you tell Mary Varvara Bell to go to Hell because she tried to get those mercenaries to kidnap me and Anjali and Jian?”
“No, but that will be a negotiating point.”
“Are you going to get out of it? Because that would be awesome.”
“I don’t think I can get out of it. Mary Varvara Bell moved up the deadline.”
“Oh, crap. I didn’t think there was any way we could do it in six weeks. What did she move it up to, four weeks?”
“Wednesday night, actually.”
Colleen gaped at him. “There isno way.There is absolutelyno way.There isabsolutely no waythat can happen. Is she on drugs?”
“When we’re in New Jersey, I want you to take your stuff and get off the plane and leave. I’m going to set up a bank account in your name and fill it with money. I’ll give you however much you need to live for several years. I just need to know you’re safe. If you go on to Europe with Jian and Anjali and me, you won’t have a passport. I don’t know how you would get back to the States, or work, or make a life for yourself without a passport. I just need to know that you’re safe out there. I can open a bank account right now for you. You can apply to universities in the East. You won’t even need financial aid. I’ll give you enough to finish college and then some.”
Colleen grabbed his hand. “I’m not leaving you. Maybe we should just all stay in New Jersey.”
