Inspiration Point (30 page)

He looked at me for a moment and then nodded for me to
continue.

“How did you end up here with these guys?  I
mean, I am sure you didn’t wake up one day and decide to work for a leech like
Spencer.”  I thought he might get upset at my line of questioning, but
instead he seemed amused.

“I haven’t heard him called a leech before,” he said
smiling again.

“Really, I would like to know, it just doesn’t seem
like you is all.  Which I know sounds a little stupid considering I don’t
know you - but I still think it’s true.”

“Davis hired me for this job, I’d been out of work for
a while, so I guess you could say I was running out of options.” He lowered his
head while he spoke, as if he was ashamed.  “I wasn’t fully aware of what
my role would be here.  I never thought I would be asked to hurt
someone.”  He looked sincere as he said the last part.

“What did you think you were hired for?”

“This,” he said pointing at the camera stuff in front
of him.  “I am pretty good at all this technical stuff.”

“So why aren’t you working as some highly paid
computer technician?” I asked honestly wanting to know the answer.

He hesitated before he spoke.  He looked as if he
wasn’t sure whether he should be telling me any of this, but he seemed as if he
wanted to get this off his chest – he didn’t want to be here anymore than we
wanted him here.

“I guess I never graduated, you know too busy partying
and stuff.  From there, things went downhill.  Most of my knowledge with
computers comes from illegal channels.  So without any proper training,
this is where you end up.”

He seemed resigned to the fact that this was his life
– I thought that was sad.

“I think you'd better getting going Hayln, before
Davis comes looking for you.”

I stood up and thanked him for his honesty and went
downstairs.  He was confused in my interest in him, but I needed more
information for what we have planned.

I realized I was starving as I headed to the
kitchen.  With all the excitement in the lab I'd missed lunch, but I was
going to make up for that.  I thought it was time to test my culinary
skills again so I went to find mum.  She was chatting to Davis in the
lounge.  When I say chatting I mean she was babbling away while reading a
magazine, and he was trying to ignore her.  When he saw me enter the room
he seemed happy for the distraction.

“Mum did you have any plans for dinner?  I
thought I might cook something.”

“Sounds good, what did you have in mind?” She said as
she put her magazine down.

“Actually I was hoping to do something a little more
challenging tonight.  There’s not much we can do in the lab at the moment
until we get some results from the rabbit – so I thought this might keep me
busy.”

“Okay let’s get started,” Mum said sounding happy for
a new challenge.

“Actually I might need a favor first,” I said as I
turned to look at Davis chewing my lip nervously.  He lifted his eyes from
the monitor to meet my gaze.  “I was hoping to cook Chinese for dinner,
but I will need some specific ingredients.  Before you freak out though,
there is an Asian grocer not far from here that delivers - so what do you
think?”

“Will you cook spring rolls?” He asked in a dead pan
voice.

I smiled, because I knew I had him – as Mum said a way
to a man’s heart was through his stomach.  “Spring rolls will definitely
be on the menu.”

“Give me a list of what you need and I will call,” he
said as he turned back to the monitors.

Mum and I went to the kitchen and made a list of what
we needed.  Whilst there I let her know things went well in the lab. 
She didn’t seem surprised so I figured she had spoken to Zeke.  When we
were finished, I gave the list to Davis.  Ian was back in front of the
monitors, he must have finished repairing the camera.  He eyed my list and
smiled a real smile.

“You’re cooking Chinese,” he said sounding honestly
excited.

I smiled and nodded then left the lounge room to find
the boys while I waited for my groceries to be delivered.

From the monitors in the lounge I could see they were
both in Emin’s room.  Emin was on the computer and I saw Zeke resting on
Emin’s bed.  His afternoon in the yard with the football must have taken a
toll on him.  I knocked on the door and went in, both boys seemed happy to
see me.  I sat next to Zeke on the bed who had now propped himself up to
talk. 

“You should lay down if you still need to rest,” I
said brushing his dark hair away from his eyes.  “Throwing the football
around might have overdone it a little, although it did provide a lovely
distraction in the hall.”

“Not bad huh,” he said taking my hand entwining his
fingers in mine.

“Before this goes any further,” Emin said as he turned
to face the two of us on the bed.  “I hear all went well with Patch
Hayl’s.  Do you think Dad will let us go ahead with your idea?”

“I think so, and with only a few people involved in
Spencer’s plan Tyler seems to think he can get rid of all the other evidence.”

“And you trust Tyler with this, with all our lives,”
Emin asked cautiously.  I looked at both of their faces and could easily
detect their concern. 

“It’s
his
life too Emin, and yes I trust
him.  And you may as well know I have asked him to come to tonight’s
meeting.”

“You didn’t think to ask us first?  How is he
even going to get here without Davis and Ian finding out?” Emin said clearly
annoyed with my suggestion.

“He's going to climb the tree into my bedroom, I told
him to come just after one, no earlier.  Look we need him to help us Emin,
not just with getting rid of the evidence Spencer has on us but to do the
procedure.  I need more reliable equipment to do this to humans, and he is
our only link to the outside.”  I could see my explanation start to
register with him, I knew in the end he would be reasonable – he was just
worried about us like Dad was.

“If Hayln trusts him Emin I think we need to as well –
he obviously doesn’t like the life he has now.  He’ll stick by us.” 
Zeke said squeezing my hand.

“Alright, I guess we will talk to him tonight then,”
he said as he turned to face his monitor again.  “Why aren’t you down
there now anyway?”

“There’s not much to do now but monitor Patch, and Dad
volunteered so I decided to cook dinner.”  It was gratifying to see both
their faces light up at that news.  I realized I genuinely did like
cooking - at least for my family. 

“So what’s for dinner then super chef? Emin
joked.  “Pasta, curry, seafood.”

“Actually I was going to try Chinese, I know its Dad’s
favorite as well as two other guys I know,” I said smiling at them.  They
both laughed and rubbed their hands together with excitement.

“What are you going to cook?” Zeke asked.  “I can
hear my stomach rumbling already.”

“I convinced Davis to get some groceries delivered
from that Asian store on Laker Street, because we don’t have much here to work
with.  But I thought I would do my own versions of spring rolls, pot
stickers, Szechuan pork, kung pao chicken and probably some rice.”

“Ohh man that sounds good,” Emin said.  “Well
don’t let us stop you from culinary genius.”  He gestured for me to leave
the room, but Zeke pulled me closer not wanting to let go of me yet and I was
happy to oblige.

“I can’t start until we get the delivery actually, so
I think I might just stay here.”  I said giving Zeke a kiss that lasted a
little longer than I thought it would.

“You can stay as long as there no kissing –
understand,” Emin said trying to sound brotherly, but I could tell he wasn’t
really upset.

“Perfectly,” I said tracing Zeke’s jaw with my
finger.  I was more than happy just to sit with him for a while and ignore
what I might be doing tomorrow.

Zeke lay back down and rested his head on my
lap.  We all talked and laughed about random stuff as we always did when
we were together.  Zeke held one of my hands, planting little kisses there
now and then.  With my other hand I played with his hair, twisting it
around my fingers
,
it was so soft.

After about an hour, I heard the doorbell and peaked
out the window to see the blue delivery van of the grocery store.  “That’s
my cue,” I said kissing Zeke as I left the room.

“Make sure you cook enough,” Emin yelled.  I’ll
definitely want seconds.”

I rolled my eyes as I left the room – when doesn’t he
have seconds I thought to myself.  Ian and Mum carried the parcels into
the kitchen, he gave us a big smile as he left. 

“I think he is as excited as Emin and Zeke,” I said to
Mum.

She gave me a relaxed smile as we got started. 
As with most Asian food the majority of the work is in preparation.  We
chopped and diced more ingredients than I care to count, but still I was
enjoying myself.  I liked creating unique flavors and taking pride in the
attention to detail.  I carefully sealed and crimped the pot stickers and
rolled each spring roll with delicate detail.  I also enjoyed this time
with Mum.  I felt like I had a part of my life back that I thought was
gone forever.

Dad and Tyler came upstairs just as we were about to
start cooking.  Tyler gave me a quick thumbs up before he left so I knew
Patch was doing well and that I would see him later tonight.  Dad came
over to look at what we had prepared and gave me a giant hug, he was so
excited.  I don’t think it was just the Chinese food I think he was proud
of what we had done today in the lab as well.

Everyone seemed to join us in the kitchen then as I
worked around the wok cooking our dinner.  With my family buzzing around
me, I felt just as alive as when I am in the lab, but with this, I can share it
with everyone.  I knew then, that if we make it out of this I would make
sure cooking became part of my life.

It would be an understatement to say everyone enjoyed
the meal.  All the dishes were passed around as we ate our way through the
feast.  Even Davis and Ian sat with us tonight.  Mum thought it would
be easier that way.  I was worried it would make it uncomfortable, but
everyone was enjoying the food too much to care.

There were no leftovers, even though I cooked enough
to feed an army.  Everyone thanked Mum and I for the meal including Davis
and then the boys offered to clean up.  In the meantime, I thought I would
go check on Patch, on my way down I bumped into Ian in the hall.

“That was the best meal I have ever eaten Hayln. 
You know I'll actually miss your cooking when this job is finished.”

No, you won’t, I thought to myself.  If I did
this right he wouldn't remember anything, but I didn’t say that instead I
thanked him and went to see Patch. 

He was doing well – fit and healthy with no idea how
to retrieve the food over his head.  I breathed a sigh of relief.

The rest of the evening we spent together in the
lounge just watching TV.  There was some football game on, but we barely
watched it.  We all spoke casually, and lay around as if we were on
holidays.  As it got later though, the mood changed.  Without saying
anything we all became aware that we would soon wake for our meeting, and we
would plan how to end this situation.

I went to bed before anyone else, I needed to get as
much rest as possible for both the meeting and for what we had planned
tomorrow.  Once I lay in bed, I realized how tired I actually was, and it
didn’t take long to fall asleep.

I was woken by the softest of kisses, and I threw my
arms around Zeke to pull him onto the bed with me.  He laughed quietly as
he followed my lead.

“You know you talk in your sleep,” he said in between
kisses.  His hands were running down the length of my body.

“I do not,” I said as I gently bit his lip.  He
moaned softly.

“You were talking about Spencer,” he said as he pulled
back to look into my eyes.  “You never told me what that was about today.”

“I’d forgotten about it to tell you the truth.”
 Disappointed that the make out session had already finished.  “Let’s
talk about it at the meeting.  I’d better get that window open for Tyler.”

“I’ve already done it,” he said running his fingers
lightly across my collarbone.  “Now tell me something else, has he ever
done this before.  You know, Tyler, getting into your room.”

I couldn’t hold back my amusement. 

“You’re laughing at me?” Zeke sounded embarrassed.

“I’m sorry, but you are so cute when you’re
jealous.”  I cupped the side of his face gently.  I kissed him on the
cheek, then on his jaw and finally on his neck.  He smelt amazing.

“I promise you, the only boy who has ever gotten into
my room through that window is you, and unfortunately, I wasn’t here to take
advantage of it.” I said as I brought my lips back to his.

“I promise to make sure you’re here next time,” he
said in a sexy voice with the most spectacular smile that made me want to pull
him back into bed with me.  Just then we heard a rustle in the tree
outside.  We went to the window and saw Tyler making his way up to my
window.  I stood back as Zeke grabbed his arm and helped him into my
room.