Young Again
Copyright© 2018 by Edward Douglass Patterson
Chapter 37: The Play
Mark had decided to see the play from the audience without drawing attention to himself. He had started a beard and had his hair styled so that he looked more like a young man than a youthful-looking senior. Now, as he and Bruce Canham approached the Castro Theater, neither of the two news reporters paid any attention to them, though that wasn’t true of the young women.
“I’m not used to this type of attention.” Mark remarked.
“You didn’t have girls chasing after you when you were in school?”
“Carol and I met in high school. I was skinny then with a bad complexion.”
“I know a place not too far from here where the girls would be all over you asking you to dance.”
Mark blushed. “We have the cast party afterwards. I don’t want to miss it.”
As they approached the theater, they heard two young women arguing with the attendant.
“I called and was told that there were tickets still available.” The long-haired blonde in black designer jeans and jacket looked upset. “We were sent here to learn more about the play.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. Ashley Sawyer bought all the remaining tickets when she got here.”
Mark was curious as to who sent them. “The couple that was supposed to meet us called and said they weren’t able to come. Miss Sawyer wouldn’t want two seats to go empty.”
The blonde turned and smiled at Mark and Bruce. “Are you trying to pick us up?”
“No, just curious as to who is so interested in a high school play that they would send you here at the last minute.”
“The story has some connections to something we were looking into. We weren’t having much luck finding the information, but we kept getting references to this play. We thought we might learn something here.”
“I’m Mark, and this is Bruce.”
“I’m Carrie, and she’s Lorrie.” The two women shared a glance. After Lorrie raised an eyebrow, Carrie continued. “It seems like the only way we’ll get in, but we are going to try to find out more information about the play afterwards. Like who wrote it. He may know more.”
Mark nodded towards the box office window, and Bruce started towards it. Lorrie smiled at Bruce as she stepped back to make room for him.
“Bruce Canham, Sawyer Security.”
The attendant checked her list. “Four tickets, front center. Here you are.”
“Sawyer Security. Who were you escorting?”
“Judge Lawrence and her husband.” Mark listened to the report from Suchin in his earpiece as they continued towards the doors. “You both work on network security for Google.”
“How did you…” Lorrie stopped when she saw the earpiece that Mark was pointing to. “That was very fast.”
“Miss Sawyer and Miss Pierce have been attacked a number of times. We are keeping an eye on everyone in the area.” Mark held the door for them to enter.
President Mario DeSantis and his family were gathered in front of the television to watch the play Cypher Witches that ABC was broadcasting during prime time.
“Dad, why are you and Mom watching this play with us?” Their youngest daughter Rosita asked.
“Is it because everyone is trying to kill them?” Their son Juan asked.
“I want to understand them better before I meet them.”
“You are going to California?” Carmen, the oldest, turned and looked at her father.
“No, they are coming here.” Mario smiled at the idea that she thought the two girls were important enough that the President of the United States would go and meet with them.
“Can I meet them?” Carmen’s question was immediately echoed by ‘me-tos’ from the other two children.
“They and their families will be having Thanksgiving dinner with us,” Anita told her children.
Rosita got up and hugged her mother and father.
Carmen realized that there must be another reason than Thanksgiving dinner for the girls and their families to come to Washington. She was about to ask when the show started.
The women shared a look when Bruce led them down to the front row, and they saw that the only open seats were the four in the center. Carrie wondered why the couple that was seated next to Mark had stared at them as they walked past.
“Who is Judge Lawrence that Ashley Sawyer had seats for her up front?” Carrie asked Mark. She thought she heard the women of the couple giggle at the comment.
Sally Pierce almost broke up when she realized the young women didn’t know who Mark was.
“LeAnn Lawrence presided over Ashley’s custody hearing. She is an amateur actress and expressed an interest in seeing the play that Ashley was going to be in.”
“Carrie, ManMan wrote the play,” Lorrie held her program so that her friend could see.
“You know Wayne?”
“We know of him. He is one of the top hackers in the country. Do you know him?”
“He is the head of the new internet security group at Sawyer Holding.”
“No way would he ever take a job.”
“Do you want to meet him?” Romano, seated with Julia next to Bruce, leaned forward to ask. He had been listening to Suchin and the others on duty guessing why Google had sent people to the play. They hadn’t been able to find anything on the Google system about their interest in the play.
“Yes, is he here?” Lorrie turned to search the nearby seats.
“He and his parents are up in the balcony. I’ll introduce you after the play. I don’t think there will be much time to talk during intermission. I’m Romano Aviles, and this is my fiancée, Julia Evans.” Romano saw that they recognized their names. He knew why they were here. “I’ll introduce you to Elphaba and Galinda also.”
“They’re here also.” Carrie realized that a lot more than they even suspected had to be going on.
Romano smiled. “They wouldn’t have missed a play about themselves even if Wayne got so much wrong.”
The lights dimmed as Carrie and Lorrie’s thoughts ran wild.
“Dad, do you think that they will have a fight in the second half?” Juan looked a little disappointed. “The computer stuff is OK, but I wanted to see the two of them fight. They were supposed to at the competition, but that guy attacked them.”
“They were fighting with the computers. They don’t need to actually hit each other.” Carmen looked at her brother with all the contempt of a two-year-older sister.
“They were much better than I expected. All of them were. Did they?” Anita looked at her husband.
“They have refused to supply a list. I understand, but I still think that we need to know.”
“No, they are right.” She didn’t say anything more in front of the children.
“Dad, why are they coming to Washington? Does it have anything to do with Ashley’s grandfather looking so young?”
“We will be meeting with a group of world leaders to discuss that. It’s one of the most important discoveries ever made. I need the three of you, not to mention it until after I announce the meeting next Monday.”
“You’re telling us a secret before you tell everyone.” Juan smiled at his father. “I promise.”
During intermission, Carrie was surprised at the number of people that came by and commented on how well Sarah and Ashley were doing. She discovered that the couple next to Mark was Sarah’s parents, but the well-wishers seemed to be including Mark also in their comments. She looked him over and wondered whom the good-looking young man was. If he weren’t a handful of years younger than she was, she would give him her number, but she preferred older men. Romano interrupted her thoughts.
“I texted Wayne. The two of you are invited to the cast party afterwards.” Romano walked over to Mark. “Suchin reports negatively on any unusual activities. The FBI also reports negatively on the people they are following.”
“Suchin Jainukul is also working with you!” The second mention of her name clued Carrie into who was supplying them information.
“They picked the best of the white side. Well, some of us were sort of neutral. You didn’t notice the decrease in attacks on the internet.”
“You have been working with the FBI to shut down the black hackers.”
“No, that is Marsha’s group. And don’t call her people hackers in front of her. We have been helping them, but that is mainly sharing some of the things we know. We’ll discuss this later. I think they may want to do some swapping of favors.” Romano turned and went back to his seat before she could ask him any questions. She realized that he had reported to Mark as if he was in charge.
“You’re a hacker also?”
Mark laughed, which Carrie enjoyed hearing.
“No, I’m thinking about learning, but I have a lot of things that I need to do.” Mark stood as Lorrie and Bruce returned with the drinks.
All through the last act, Carrie’s thoughts kept returning to Mark.
ABC managed a short commentary after the play in between commercials.
“Margie, I didn’t expect such a well-done production. Is this typical of what we have in high school plays nowadays?” Jim Osborne was the ABC evening news anchor.
Margaret Stiles was the ABC theater reporter for New York. She preferred not to be called Margie. “No, Jim. The performance was better than ninety-nine percent of today’s high school performances. I don’t mean just Ashley and Sarah. Everyone knew all their lines and where they were supposed to be. I didn’t see any indication of a mistake, which is rare in a high school performance and isn’t something that I would expect for one performed live before a national audience.”
“Now, Sarah and Ashley’s performances were truly outstanding. Remember the comments after the videos of them at the martial arts competition went viral. Their performance tonight was much, much better. The interaction, whether hostility, avoidance, or finally friendship, rose to a level I have only seen maybe a half dozen times and never between two actresses. Even the canned computer screen shots that they showed matched what they were doing. Whoever was handling that can get a job in Hollywood for special effects.”
“Margie, those were the actual screen shots of what the two girls were doing on their computers or phones. I was told that they added that in today’s just for this performance. I know that one bit about Afghanistan is something that we will be talking about on the late news.”
“But they kept talking and moving about.” She realized that they had been doing real work on the computers all during the play.
“Mom, where’s Dad?” Carman asked when the play was over.
“He hurried out when they showed the information about Afghanistan.” Anita remembered the concerned look on Mario’s face.
“Why did he worry about the news shown in the play?” Rosita had noticed her father’s reaction.
“That was real news.” Juan had noticed that they were using real-time news and searches. The huge television screen had made it easy to read the date and time. “They are computer wizards.”
“No, cypher witches.” Rosita corrected her brother.
When Carrie and Lorrie started to get up, Mark stopped them. “It will only take about five minutes for the Loremasters to set up. ABC allotted them seven minutes for the change.”
“They hired the Loremasters to play. They stopped playing at the coffee house right before they put out their album. I’ve been looking for them to come back so I could hear them play their new songs.” Carrie watched as the band and six teenagers, including the two leads, rushed around the stage.
“Four minutes seventeen seconds.” Mark said as he glanced down at his watch.
Carrie had watched the well-orchestrated set-up of the band equipment. When she glanced over at Mark, she saw him looking sadly at a very expensive watch.
“That is a very nice watch.” She wondered how he could afford such a watch.
“A Grande Complication. I got it for my last birthday.” Mark got control of himself. “The first song is Lost In Time from the first album. The second one is Those Who Care from the new album, Making Our Way Towards Eden. That one is a duet with Maria Cuervo.”
“Benny has a second album.”
“He wants to add one more song. Another duet with Maria. It will be out in the next couple of weeks.”
“Mom, can I download those songs?” Rosita hadn’t noticed that her father had returned during the first song.
“The second album won’t be released until they are here. I’ll ask if they can send you early copies.” Mario found that being able to get his children prerelease copies of the album impressed them.
“I think that the Loremasters have another hit record when their new album is released. Margie, I know that pop music isn’t your expertise, but what do you think of the new song?”
“Jim, let me mention this first. I have never heard of an unknown band having an album go platinum so quickly and have so many number one hits. Now they have a second album, a new and unknown female singer, and such an improved sound. Well, the only thing that I compare it to is the performance of Ashley and Sarah that we just saw. I know the Loremasters have been sought out for a live performance, but they haven’t responded to any of the offers. How did ABC get the Loremasters to perform?”
“I’m going to buy the second album when it comes out.” He paused. “The producer says that the first album was financed by Ashley Sawyer. That is very interesting and explains why we were just able to hear the Loremasters live. We now have a commercial break. When we come back, we will talk with a number of experts about Mark Sawyer, Ashley Sawyer, and Sarah Pierce. They have been making headlines for the past few months. We will discuss both the facts that we know and all the rumors going around. We will start with a couple of professors of genetics about why Mark Sawyer looks like he is twenty years old?”
The restaurant was only a couple of blocks from the theater, so they walked. The hostess at the door knew Bruce, so they were let right in. Everyone in the main dining area seemed to know Mark and Bruce. They were greeted as they made their way across the large dining area. Carrie saw that they were headed for a separate private dining room. Mark closed the door behind them.
“The room is swept and clean. If you would turn off your cell phones, the meeting can start.” Sandy Vickers addressed Carrie and Lorrie.
“Meeting. Cell phones.” Lorrie was even more confused than Carrie.
“Hi, I’m Ashley Sawyer. The man you know as just Mark is my grandfather. His disguise worked much better than expected.”
Carrie turned and stared at Mark Sawyer. She remembered the brisk pace he set on the walk to the restaurant. He not only looked young. He was young and very healthy. She started to say something to him but realized that he hadn’t lied once to them. All he had said was that his name was Mark. She had never given her last name either. When she looked back to Ashley, she saw that Sarah Pierce had joined her.
“We understand that you are interested in information about Elphaba and Galinda. I’m Elphaba, and Ashley is Galinda.”
“But you played Galinda.” Lorrie looked back and forth between the two teenagers.
“That’s my fault. I thought Elphaba was a blonde. I’m Wayne Sobczak. You wanted to talk to me.”
“We are interested in why Al Mawt is spending so much effort looking for information on Elphaba and Galinda.” Carrie didn’t take her eyes off Mark. “He has broken into our secure areas four times in the past week.”
“I think that confirms our suspicions.” Ashley looked at Wayne.
“I’ll let Ray know. Do you think Google will want to work directly with the NSA?”
“Carrie, would you call and ask if your bosses would like some help? We can go over after we eat and talk with them, or we could wait until tomorrow. We’ll start right away on our own, but we have been staying in a white light mode domestically, so we haven’t been monitoring Google’s networks. For this, we will actually forgo the fees we are charging the government unless you want help securing your systems.”
Ashley’s words caught the young women by surprise. “You are the reason that attacks on government systems increased for a while but have been ineffective.” Carrie looked over the others that hadn’t been introduced, but she didn’t think any of them were hackers.
“OK, I’ll let them know.”
“Let’s hold up a second.” Everyone turned to Julia. “Wayne, Ashley, and Sarah have a party they need to be at. Rom and I will go.” She looked at Marsha. “You should decide who you’ll be sending. This is probably an external threat, so Captain McRae should have people there also.”
“I’ll also come along. Girls go.” Mark made a shooing motion. “Wayne, Rom can call Ray.” Wayne laughed as he followed the girls. “Carrie, go ahead and make your call. Tell them you have some people that want to help. That the threat is to national security and that the FBI will be part of those that will be coming. Mention that I will also be there. That might get some higher-ups to come in. We will explain more after you finish the call.”
It took a while for Carrie to work her way up management until they got to the level that could grant the permission that they needed. Mark had to get on the phone then, but he would only confirm that it was important.
When Mark got off the phone, Lorrie shook her head. “Al Mawt and those working with them will know that you are meeting with us.”
“Of course. That is why we called the NSA first. Sarah also alerted our people. We will be watching for how they react.” He paused while Marsha handed each woman the forms they needed to sign. “Have a seat and read the form while dinner is brought in. It’s just pizza and other things that they can make easily for a large group, but that means that we can talk while we eat without worry about waiters.”
“Don, you were at the play tonight. From all reports, there was no sign of Mark Sawyer. Where do you think he was?” Mary Kelly asked the local Fox News reporter.
“I believe he was sitting up front center stage. He was with a man and two women in their twenties. They were sitting beside Jim and Sally Pierce, Sarah’s parents. He had a short beard and was dressed for the age he looks. With everything going on, I didn’t closely examine the fourteen hundred people that attended the performance. You probably need to have someone go back over the footage that we shot out front and see if I’m correct.”
Mary laughed. “No disguise. He just didn’t look like we expected him to look. Any idea about whom the three with him were?”
“I think that I have seen the guy before. He may be part of the Sawyer security team. I’ll need to look at what you find to be sure. I know that I have never seen the women before. I’m a little more observant that way about beautiful women.”
“Mark Sawyer was with two beautiful women.”
“Yes, and the blonde seemed to be very interested in him. Almost as if they just met.”
“Are you saying Mark just picked up a couple of beautiful women off the street?”
“Mary, when you see the pictures, you will realize that he wouldn’t have much trouble doing that. The other guy either.”
“Now you’re going to have me staying late tonight to look through the footage.” Mary glanced at her monitor. “Now the second big topic is the new song, Those Who Care from the Loremasters’ second album, Making Our Way Towards Eden. This song is a departure from the Loremasters’ first album. Many people believe they were searching for information from the past. The new song is about people who have given their lives to help others. That doesn’t exactly go with the title of the album. Did you find out anything about it?”
“No, that song seemed to surprise a lot of people, even those I recognized as being associated with the Sawyers. You know that Ashley Sawyer funded the production and release of the first album. One of the local DJs that I talked to says she called him personally and asked him to listen to it. He was the first one to play songs from the new album.”
“Do you have any idea why she did this, besides the music itself?”
“No, but Mary, have you seen a large image of the album cover? It is causing almost as much excitement as the music. I actually had a short interview with the artist after the play. He was with his parents and sister and came up to me and introduced himself.”
“Don, he sought you out. Are you sure that he is the artist?”
“He showed me a copy of the new album cover. He said that he now understood better what was needed for the covers. Mary, the theme of the new album is definitely different from the first. I’m not sure what it really is. There is some deep meaning that I think will take time and probably the rest of the soundtracks to understand. The new album cover is even better than the first. I had a hard time taking my eyes off of it to continue the interview.”
“You didn’t get a picture of it.”
“No, his family blocked the camera. Now that I think about it, that was intentional. Definitely what I have come to expect when dealing with the Sawyers.”
“But he wasn’t part of their family.”