The Deviant Underground (Time Bandit) (13 page)

“ . . . love it, Kathryn.” The sound of her name jarred her out of her thoughts.

“What?”

Susan repeated, “I said, that I can't wait for you to see the cabin. You’re going to love it.”

“I'm sure I will.” Her ears popped as the car began to climb. Within minutes, Jonathan exited and drove onto a two-lane highway that wound itself through the mountainside. Kathryn looked behind them. The city slipped away through the haze in the air. The car continued its climb for several minutes until Jonathan turned off onto a gravel road that Kathryn would have missed seeing if she had blinked. They were the only car around, and the tires crunched as they plowed over the rough surface. The formerly stark landscape turned more lush, and tall trees buffered the car against the piercing sun. The foliage grew more and more dense as the gravel road narrowed. Suddenly, they broke through into a clearing, and Jonathan stopped the car in front of a rustic cabin.

“We're here!” Susan chirped and jumped out of the car. Everyone else followed. Kathryn stepped out, and the first thing she noticed was the smell. It was warm, crisp, fresh, and alive. She could hear nothing except for the occasional warble of an invisible bird. Charge removed the bags from the trunk, and Susan and Jonathan walked toward the house.

“It's not much, but it’s home,” Jonathan said as he climbed the stairs to the front porch. He opened the door and stepped aside. “Ladies first.” Susan and Kathryn entered.

The cabin was small and simple, but it was tastefully appointed. To the right of the front door was a small living room with a fireplace, a couch, two chairs, a coffee table, and a tv. Dark wood paneling covered the walls, making the room feel charming and cozy. There was a closed door located at the end of the room, and a few steps beyond the front door and slightly to the left was an open kitchen with a small kitchen table. Despite the modest size, the countertops were dotted with high-end kitchen gadgets including a set of very expensive looking knives and a coffee machine that most baristas would envy. A mini-wine chest full of bottles stood elegantly in the corner.

“I'll take the bags upstairs,” Charge said as he stepped into the entranceway and headed up the stairs directly in front of them.

“You and Kathryn can have the bedroom to the right,” Jonathan called after him. He turned to Kathryn and smiled slightly as her eyes wandered about the room taking everything in. “So, what do you think?”

“It's great.” And she really did think so. She was glad that they had convinced her to take a little vacation. The cabin seemed to be the perfect place to get away and relax.

“Come on.” Susan hooked her arm around Kathryn's. “Let me show you your room. It is small, but it's got great light.” Susan led the way up the stairs. The hardwood creaked with every step they made. Kathryn ran her hand along the banister, feeling the rough, unpolished wood beneath her fingertips. At the top of the stairs, there was a small hallway. The door in front of them was open and was obviously the bathroom. To the left and to the right there were two other doors. Kathryn heard Charge banging about to the right of her. She assumed the closed door to the left was another bedroom—Jonathan's. And Susan's.

When Kathryn entered into what she immediately thought of as “her” bedroom, her first thought was that Susan was right. The bright yellow California sun streamed in through the two open windows on the far side of the room. The leaves on the trees cast dancing shadows against the wall, and the rustle as they swayed in the breeze wafted into the room, silently billowing the sheer curtains with their entrance. Charge had placed her suitcase on the bed, and he was already unpacking his and putting his clothes into the cherry wood vanity.

“I'll take two drawers and you can have two,” he said as he placed t-shirts and shorts into the top drawer. “And you can hang some stuff into the closet.” Charge nodded toward a door located just past the entrance into the room. Kathryn turned and opened it. The empty closet smelled like sawdust and earth. She smiled.

“This is great.”

***

That night, dinner was marinated steaks prepared on the small propane grill behind the cabin. Jonathan had a simple set of patio furniture, and they all enjoyed steaks, baked potatoes, asparagus, and a delicious pinot noir in the yellow-orange light of the setting Californian sun.

The conversation danced from one topic to the next, covering everything from politics to celebrity gossip to the average temperature in LA during the winter. Kathryn felt full of fine steaks, good wine, and even better friends. As she imagined thirteen more days just as relaxing as this one, she sighed with content.

“So,” Jonathan picked up the second bottle of pinot noir and poured another round until it was empty, “we begin tomorrow.”

“Begin tomorrow what?” Kathryn asked, her head swimming pleasantly.

“Practice, of course,” Jonathan answered with a slight tip of his glass in her direction.

Kathryn threw her head back and groaned. “Oh, come on! I just
got
here. I thought I was here for a vacation.”

“You are,” Jonathan said warmly. “A vacation from your other life.”

“Right.” Charge joined in. “You needed to leave all that boring-ass shit behind!”

Kathryn shot Charge a look, which he countered with a smile. She turned back to Jonathan. “Can't we just take a break for a few days?”

Jonathan took a sip from his glass before responding, “Unfortunately, no. Although you have made great strides in the past few months, there is still a lot of work to be done, and we don’t have a lot of time.”

“We don't have a lot of time to do what?”

Everyone fell silent for a moment before Jonathan responded. “There are people, Kathryn, who are covertly working to find people like us.”

Kathryn frowned. “What do you mean—covertly?”

Jonathan set his glass down and leaned back in his chair. The sun was low on the horizon, and the sky was beginning to turn a dark shade of purple. The woods around them rustled and croaked with the sounds of nocturnal animals waking to start their day. Jonathan folded his hands across his lap before proceeding. “I have come into the knowledge, from a very reliable source, that the government has formed an agency whose sole task is to find deviants who are hiding among the general population.” He paused. “And eliminate them.”

Kathryn shook her head as if to clear away the effects of the wine. “Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Are you trying to tell me that there is some kind of Men In Black type shit where people are running around under the cover of darkness finding American citizens and killing them because they happen to be deviants?”

Without skipping a beat, Jonathan answered, “That's exactly what I am saying.”

Kathryn burst out laughing. “You’re kidding right?” The looks on Charge's and Susan's faces indicated to her that Jonathan was not kidding. “Oh, come on! If this is true, then why haven't I heard about it? There hasn’t been a rash of unexplained murders on the news. There's not even been talk of something like this on the deviant conspiracy theory websites, blogs, or message boards.” Kathryn paused and said quietly, “And believe me, I've looked.”

“Well, I don't know why no one online has at least imagined that something like this might be possible. Humans have been capable of far worse in history.” Jonathan continued, “As for the news reports, there are two reasons for that. One, our numbers in relation to the general population are very low. More gang members get killed in LA on any given day. Two, the murders are conducted in such a way that they look like an accident or an unfortunate circumstance.”

“Wait a minute.” She leaned forward into the dusky evening. The light from the rising crescent moon illuminated the intense conversation. “If this operation is so covert, so secret, and so well executed, how do
you
know about it?”

Even in the purplish-black night, Kathryn could see the smirk that danced in the corner of Jonathan's mouth. “I have my ways,” he answered cryptically.

Kathryn sighed again in frustration at Jonathan's non-answer. She pulled a cigarette out of the pack sitting on the table and lit it with a flick from her lighter. The tip of the cigarette burned red hot as she took a long pull and exhaled smoke into the crisp evening air. “One more question. There are so few of us, and even fewer have escaped detection.” She took another drag. “So how does this 'covert operation' find deviants to eliminate?”

Kathryn heard the tension in Jonathan's voice. “I'm not exactly sure, but my best guess is that they are finding us the same way that I found you.”

Kathryn caught on to what Jonathan was saying. “With the help of a deviant whose gift is the ability to find other deviants.”

“Fucking traitor.” Charge hissed in the dark.

“Yes,” Jonathan replied quietly.

Kathryn inhaled deeply from the cigarette. “But that doesn't make sense. Why would a deviant work to destroy others?”

“Now, Kathryn.” There was sadness in Jonathan's voice. “I'm sure you know that throughout history, members of a persecuted group have worked to oppress their fellow brothers and sisters—slaves working with overseers, Jews working with Nazis—”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Kathryn cut him off. “I get it.” Everyone was silent again. Thoughtful. Kathryn leaned over and crushed her cigarette out on the ground and then dropped the butt into the empty wine bottle. “But was does all of this have to do with the fact that I can't have a restful vacation tomorrow?”

“Because,” Susan piped up for the first time since this line of conversation had begun, “we are going to stop them.”

Chapter Fourteen

“Wake up. It's time to practice.”

Kathryn heard Susan's voice coming from the foot of her bed, but she decided to ignore it. She didn't know what time it was, but she knew that it was too early. She and Charge had spent most of the night breaking in the bed, and the last thing that she wanted to do was to get up at the crack of dawn just so Susan could try to punch her in the face.

“Ugh” was her only reply.

“Get UP!” Susan yanked off the sheet that was barely covering their naked bodies.

“Hey!” Kathryn yelled as she scrambled to grab a corner of the sheet to maintain her dignity. “What the hell?”

Susan laughed at Kathryn's outburst. “Get up. It's not like you have something I've never seen before. It's time to practice.”

Kathryn managed to pull the sheet back up and over herself and Charge. “What time is it?” she spat out.

“It's about 6:00.”

“Why the hell do we have to get up so early?” Outside her window, Kathryn heard the sharp chirps of birds excited at the prospect of a new day. The cheery sound just made her grumble more.

“You know how important this is, and it’s always best to do workouts in the morning. Besides, you like to work out in the morning anyway, so what's the problem?”

Kathryn rubbed her eyes. “Yeah, morning like 8:00. Not morning like 6:00.”

“Well, it's 8:00 in St. Louis so get your ass up.”

Kathryn shot Susan a look. She didn't think that she was going to win this argument. “What about Charge?”

“I'm up.” His voice was muffled by the pillow. He raised up slightly and looked sleepily at Kathryn. “Come on. No use arguing with her. Let's get up.”

Kathryn sighed, defeated. “Fine.” Susan, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt with her hair pulled back in a sloppy ponytail, continued to stand at the foot of the bed. Kathryn raised her eyebrows at her and said, “What are you standing there for? Get outta here so that we can change.”

A sunny grin lit up Susan's face. “Great! I'll see you downstairs in 10 minutes.” She bounced out of the room.

“Arrgh.” Kathryn groaned as she dive bombed into her pillow. After a moment, she turned on her side and faced Charge, snuggling up to his warm body. He kissed the top of her head affectionately and held her close. “Hey,” Kathryn whispered, “I can think of a better form of exercise.” She allowed her hands to roam around places they had visited the night before, and Charge began to respond.

“Mmm.” He groaned but then caught her hands in his. “Later, babe. We have to practice first.”

“Damn. Not you, too?”

Charge chuckled. “Yes. Me, too. Come on, get up.” Charge bounded out of bed and headed toward the bathroom. Kathryn rolled her eyes at the empty room and stared at the ceiling.

“Okay, fine,” she whispered as she forced herself to get out of bed.

***

The leaves rustled underneath their feet as they walked through the brightening woods. The morning air was crisp, and Kathryn slowly began to wake up as she traipsed alongside Charge, struggling to keep up with his long strides. “Where are we going?” she mumbled.

“There's a clearing up here that's perfect.” Susan gestured up ahead. They walked together a bit longer in silence. All of a sudden, the dense forest parted to reveal a small field. The clearing was about half the size of a football field and was peppered with tufts of grass, stones, and rotted trunks. Now that they had stopped walking, the woods were quiet except for the occasional rustle from an unseen animal and the chirp of a bird. Kathryn inhaled deeply, and the earthy air filled her lungs. A warm wave of contentment washed over her, and she couldn’t help but to smile. Susan caught it. “What is it?”