The Strangeness Within Pt. 04

"Yes," Esther said. "Nothing but what's right here. You, the bed, the wood stove."

"I think that's really good," Nicola said. "You want to be able to separate those abilities. It will be much easier for you if Abuela doesn't have to push so hard to show you what she senses."

"I don't know if I could ever be this comfortable with her," Esther said morosely.

"If I have to barge right in and hold you like this the whole time, I'd do it," said Nicola. "If it could spare you some of what you felt earlier."

Esther sighed and moved a little closer to Nicola. By the time Mark came in, she was nearly asleep.

He stopped for a minute.

"Good night Esther, Nicola," he eventually said. "Sleep well."

And they did.

* * *

Raj was right on time, as always.

The Unit seems to focus on terrorism. International terrorism in the past, but the rumors are that they are now much more concerned with a type of domestic terrorism. I wonder if that is a cover for their true purpose. You can wave aside a lot of legal concerns these days by mentioning terrorism.

Javier nodded and began to type.

"Kat and I found some things out about InfoCorp. First, their business has been doing poorly over the last two or three years. Losing money, and a huge drop in stock price. The business pages don't seem to entirely explain it. Something like a run of bad luck. Some of their contracts being given to other companies, competitors just beating them to market, small strategic blunders, that sort of thing. Even three warehouse fires, all of which were ruled accidental."

Interesting. Perhaps that has made them all the more desperate for whatever resources the collaboration with the government provides. With the Unit, we assume.

"We wondered about that too," Javier typed. "There is one more peculiar thing. Kat and her friends were able to hack into the employment database at InfoCorp. She's saying over my shoulder their human resources department had embarrassingly shitty security. It turns out Fred Daniels and Myra Jackson are both based in Fresno, though Daniels is actually a contract employee from some other company. I spent a dull weekend looking through microfilm indices for Fresno papers, and I found two mentions of InfoCorp. One was some arcane building permit dispute with the city, that nonetheless could turn into a serious problem for that location. The other was an accident last month involving a company car. Some anonymous wrong-way driver forced them off the road. The InfoCorp driver was Fred Daniels, and I'm sorry to say he wasn't hurt seriously. But it seemed a bizarre coincidence."

Perhaps Daniels has made other enemies. It seems likely enough given what we know. We might have allies of a sort. Though I'd be very uneasy working with someone willing to kill Daniels in cold blood, assuming as you say this wasn't a bizarre coincidence.

"Seems like he deserves it well enough," Kat said grumpily. But Javier had to agree with Raj. They needed to expose and shut down Daniels and this Unit. Picking off a single man wasn't the way to make that happen, and Javier certainly wasn't going to kill anyone.

Javier typed again. "The warehouse fires look suspicious, given what happened to Daniels. The other things don't seem like they could be the result of sabotage, though. Or if they are, it is a heck of a lot more subtle than arson or murder by car."

Raj eventually signed off, and Javier hurriedly sat up from Kat's computer. It felt like invading her space, somehow, even though they'd agreed this was better than using the lab. Kat leaned over and typed in a couple commands to shut down, and then they went to sit.

The place was pretty messy again, but it was all Kat's mess. Javier edged away uncomfortably from the bra left draped on his side of the couch.

"Oh, Jesus, what a slob I am," she said, calmly rescuing the bra and hurling it towards a laundry pile. It fell a couple feet short and she just shook her head.

"So," Javier said.

Kat grunted and didn't say anything for a while. Finally she looked away.

"What do you think? Of course she's not coming back. I like to think I'd be in better shape if she was, but who even knows. She called me last night to say she's coming with her brother tomorrow to pick up her stuff and leave her key. She'd rather I not be around."

"I'm so sorry," he said.

"She came out years ago to her family," Kat said. "I liked her parents. They're easygoing folks. Take everything in stride. I sometimes wonder if María being so closemouthed and uptight was her kind of rebellion. I guess I'll never really know. Want to get drunk? I acquired a bottle of tequila to drink whenever I finally proposed to her and she accepted."

"Proposed," Javier said. "As in, propose to marry?"

"Yeah. The closest equivalent we could scrounge together, anyway. But, yeah."

Javier shook his head. "I've got no tolerance and you're my ride home."

"Who gives a fuck? Crash with me. I could use the company."

Javier was reminded uncomfortably of the mood Clara had been in that night at the party. What seemed like years ago.

"I'll hang out a while," he said. "And I could catch the last bus. But I've got school in the morning. And I think you should save the tequila for some future happy occasion you just can't predict yet."

"Fucking hell," Kat said. "Goddamn shitforsaken world. Why do you have to be so positive, anyway? Maybe I want to feel like shit. Maybe I want to do something stupid. Like you and Samantha keep doing."

She looked horrified as soon as it left her mouth.

"I'm so sorry, Javier. I don't know where that came from."

"It's all right. Actually, I think it really is finished. I'm kind of relieved, honestly."

"Oh," she said. "Now I feel doubly stupid. You're probably right I should keep off the booze. God knows what I could say, or what could happen in this mood."

For a while they sat together nursing their thoughts.

"I miss her," Javier said.

"Esther?"

"Samantha," he admitted. "Probably I'm just horny." He laughed nervously.

"Tell me about it," Kat said. "Last night I ran out of batteries for two different toys and I nearly had a meltdown."

Javier guffawed. The thought of Kat with sex toys was — but what did he know about her, anyway? What did he even know about what women did with each other?

"You shut up or I'll make you change them," she said. "I mean, I'll obviously have to do that for later."

He looked at her. She had that mulish, serious look.

"You're teasing me," he said.

"You betcha," she said. "God, it's making me feel better, though. I couldn't make jokes about my vibrators with María. I think she was intimidated by my collection."

"Collection? What, are you a connoisseur?"

"I didn't really think so, but somehow I just kept buying another every time I was at the toy shop. I guess I have three dildos, two vibrating with the clit attachments. Then there's the couple small vibrators, and of course the toys for my butt."

Javier stared at her.

"OK, so it's a collection," she said, starting to look embarrassed. "Sorry, I don't know why I'm teasing you, really. Like I said, it's refreshing to know you're probably just surprised and not morally offended or something. God, I'm horny. What a fucking stupid body I have."

"I think it's a perfectly lovely body," he said. "And I can't imagine being annoyed at a partner because she wants a lot of sex."

"Yeah, guys are simpler, aren't they," she said, giving him a knowing wink.

Javier swallowed. Esther had said something like that to him, when she didn't understand that he wasn't always in the mood.

"Oops," said Kat. "You've got that look. I said something stupid, didn't I?"

"No," he said. "It just reminded me of Esther."

"Ah," said Kat. "I'm sorry for that."

"So," he said after a long pause. "Are you going to leave for San Jose early, like you thought?"

"I don't know," she sighed. "Probably. Whenever I can get myself stapled back together enough to pack. Thank you so much for keeping me company, Javier. I better take you back, I think."

They stood up and Kat unexpectedly gave him a hug. She was about Clara's height. Perfect for him to lean over and rest his head against hers. Her short hair tickled his cheek. She had boobs almost as big as Clara, though he usually tried not to notice that. She wasn't letting go of the hug, and he didn't mind that either. He stroked her back gently, and then for some idiot reason he turned his head to kiss her, on the neck just below her ear. She stiffened and hastily pulled away from him.

"I don't know why I did that," he said. "I'm sorry, Kat. It just sort of happened. I must be really lonely."

"No, it's all right," she said, looking briefly confused. She shook her head. "It's fine. Don't worry. Let me just get you home and we can each take care of our loneliness in the usual way."

Javier snorted, and Kat smiled. He couldn't believe she'd brushed off his faux pas by making a joke about masturbation. He definitely needed more friends like Kat.