“Ryder, please go with them.” I walked toward the open door. “Anything they suggest is going to be in your best interest. Please listen to them.”
“Okay.”
“Mr. Smith,” the man said as I approached. “I’m D’Andre. Mr. Christos said you’d be expecting us.”
I nodded and got into the back seat of the SUV. The man in the driver seat turned around so I could see him.
“Evening, Mr. Smith. I’m Oliver.”
I held my hand up and waved. I still held the phone against my ear as I put the seat belt on.
“Ryder, are you inside the car?” Atlas asked.
“Yes, thank you.” I couldn’t begin to think about how Atlas had been communicating with the two suits. My head was far too crowded to spend any time on that right now.
“I’m heading to the airport now and will call you when I get there.”
“Okay, bye.” I ended the call and then noticed that D’Andre pressed what I assumed was an earpiece for a phone.
“Will do,” D’Andre said before turning his head and looking over his shoulder at me. “Mr. Smith, there’s a cold bottle of water in the cup holder for you. Mr. Christos said your phone may need to charge. What kind of phone do you have?” I held my phone out so he could see my iPhone. D’Andre nodded and then stretched his arm over the center console and touched a tray in the back of the console just above the lid to the bottle of water. “This is a charging tray. If you set your phone on it, it’ll charge it.”
I set the phone on the charging tray and picked the bottle of water up from the cup holder. Once the water hit my tongue, I realized how thirsty I was.
Since the back of my neck was bloody, I was afraid to lean back and relax. As I looked out the dark window, warm air started to surround me. I thought the heat and seat warmer were on and realized how chilled I must have been because it all felt really good. Though I gazed out the window, I couldn’t see much of anything because of the dark tint. I started to think about howmuch my life was going to change and how much it already had since I left the house tonight. A wave of nausea crashed over me, and I was suddenly in dire need of some cooler air. I pressed my forearm against the cool glass window and looked at all the buttons above the charging tray to see if I could figure out how to shut the seat warmer off at least.
“How do I turn off the heat back here?” I asked as I fought off another wave of nausea.
D’Andre reached back again and said, “This button turns off the seat warmer, and this one adjusts the temperature.”
“Thank you.” I shut the seat warmer off and pressed the button rapidly to lower the temperature.
By the time we got to D’Andre’s, the aches from Roger’s assault were really settling in. After Oliver parked the SUV in the garage and shut it off, D’Andre stepped out and opened my door. I took my phone off the charging tray and got out of the SUV, then followed them inside.
“Are you hungry, Mr. Smith?” Oliver asked.
“No. I’m just really warm and aching.” I cut to the chase rather than play yes and no games.
“Have a seat.” D’Andre pulled a chair out from the table. I flopped onto the hard wooden seat and stared at the table.
“Mr. Christos said you might be cut. Can we see the cut so we can clean it?” Oliver asked.
I nodded and gestured to the back of my neck. “It’s on my neck.” I folded my arms, set them on the table, and rested my forehead on top of them. I closed my eyes as Oliver and D’Andre mumbled and spoke quietly to one another.
My adrenaline level from fighting had dropped, and now I was dead tired and sore. I wanted the day to be over so I could see what my near immediate life would look like.
10
Atlas
December
On my way to the airport, I’d sent Headmaster Vetter and the VP of the council, Kaleb Andrews, text messages letting them know the situation. Since it hadn’t been much past four thirty in the morning, I hadn’t expected replies for a while. Though I boarded the jet as soon as I arrived at JFK, it wasn’t able to take off until close to five thirty a.m. Given the circumstances for what I deemed an emergency, I had been annoyed that leaving New York was so painful and time consuming. It did, however, give me some time to reflect on the situation and keep myself in touch with Oliver and D’Andre. I was much calmer now that I knew Ryder was safe.
“How is he?” I came right out and asked the question as soon as Oliver answered the phone.
“He’s resting now. We got his neck cleaned up, which is where the cut was; at least the one we know of.”
“Do you suspect he’s cut elsewhere? Are there any visible signs of blood?” I quickly asked.
