Chapter 4

“It’s your job to know where she is, Joey. How goddamned hard can it be to keep track of a librarian?”

“She’s somewhere in California,” Yousef answered. The imposing frame of his former brother-in-law towered over him and it made him nervous. “She’s my sister. She doesn’t tell me everything.”

“And you couldn’t follow her?”

“I figured I could track her cell phone later, but she’s off the grid. She must have shut it off for the flight and never turned it back on. You know how she is.” Yousef was getting tired of the role of being Derek’s watchdog over his sister. Of course he’d wanted to be close to her after the explosion, but it irritated him every time Derek asked for information about her.

He couldn’t remember what had drawn them together in college in the first place, and regretted a little having ever introduced Derek and Maddie. Derek was everything Yousef was not—tall, tan, muscular, and rich—a man who took pride in his body and expected everyone else to admire it. Yousef was short and slight. His father’s genes had left him light-skinned with a spray of freckles across his nose. Sometimes he wished he looked more Persian like his mother. It would fit his name better.

Derek had been a year ahead of Yousef in college and had all but adopted him the first week of school. If Yousef had difficulty with physics, Derek tutored him. In exchange Yousef helped Derek with Latin. When Yousef’s computer was stolen, Derek bought him a new laptop, much better than the desktop model that was stolen. He said he did it because he could do it and that Yousef should never think of the giver, but focus on what the gift would enable Yousef to contribute to humanity one day. It made Yousef focus on his studies and even strive to understand the programming that engaged Derek. It was all for the greater good of humanity. Somehow, that seemed to have changed.

Yousef wasn’t the only student to benefit from Derek’s generosity. Many people who had received something from Derek, though, were shunned by him in a few months. They seemed to feel that they could go back for whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. Yousef never presumed on Derek’s generosity and that seemed to please Derek immensely. When Yousef introduced Derek to his sister, it had cemented a relationship that far outlasted the short marriage.

“She was traveling with Keith Drucker.”

“That dude is like a lightning rod for trouble,” Derek answered. “How can your sister’s boyfriend be the only one hurt in an explosion that took off the entire front of the library? She could get killed hanging around him.”

“She likes him. He’s a nice guy.” Yousef defended Keith, even though they had never met.

“That didn’t keep him from sleeping with my wife,” Derek muttered.

“Ex-wife,” Yousef corrected. “You’re divorced.”

“Yeah, whatever” Derek said, tapping keys on his computer. “Okay, they’re near El Centro, California.”

“How do you know?”

“It isn’t what you know, it’s who you know that counts,” Derek said. “I still have some sources that you don’t.”

“Why bother to have me follow her?”

“I want you near her.”

“Now?”

“No. It would be too suspicious if she walked down the street in Almost-Mexico, California and saw her brother coming toward her,” Derek said. “There must be some spa out there that they went to for the guy’s health.” Derek poured himself a drink, but didn’t bother to invite Yousef to join him. His mother’s aversion to alcohol had rubbed off on Yousef and he never touched it. But as Derek drank, Yousef scanned the room, looking for any sign that they were being watched. It’s Derek’s office. Of course we’re being watched, Yousef thought. That’s what Derek does.

“Remember playing ‘gossip’ back in college?” Derek asked. Yousef nodded. It was Derek’s game, but Yousef had discovered that he was quite good at it. They collected names of people, places, and activities. On the weekend they drew one of each. “Charles Crawford scored in Hartford,” could be a sentence. The task would be for each to find the right place to plant the gossip in such a way that it would become an accepted fact by the next weekend. If the gossip was traced back to the originator, however, the game was over. Permanently.

The trick, Yousef discovered immediately, was not to be malicious. There were multiple definitions of the word “scored,” for example. Scored a point in a game, scored with a girl, scored some pot, scored on a test, scored a sheet of paper. If Yousef chose the right combination of meanings, the subject might pick up the gossip himself and begin to believe it.

“The kids are all clumsy today,” Derek continued. “They batter each other on Facebook and text messages until no one believes anything or someone kills herself. Either way, everyone knows who is responsible. When we work our magic, we have to make sure no one knows it’s us casting the spell.”

“I don’t play anymore,” Yousef said.

“Yeah. That’s too bad,” Derek said. “You were the best. So you just keep track of the pieces and I’ll play the game. Keep your phone on and watch for your sister to come back on the grid. There’s nothing interesting in California. She’ll be safe there. But I want to be the first one to know when she moves. Tell Sophie. I want the two of you ready to go wherever they head next. I’m willing to give them a couple of days, but the clock is ticking now and we need another demonstration soon. We’ll take the jet if we need to.” Yousef nodded his head and turned to leave. “Don’t worry, Little Brother. I haven’t forgotten my promise, and neither should you. We keep those we love safe.” Yousef turned back to look at Derek who smiled warmly back at him. He left the office and went home. Derek was right. Yousef felt safer when he was near.

Derek watched the door for a minute after Yousef left, just to make sure he wasn’t coming right back in. Finally satisfied he picked up his phone and said brusquely, “Sophie, get in here.” The slender blonde that entered from a side door to Derek’s office was really nothing like the nymph that attached herself to him years ago. At ten feet, she could make you believe she was still a teenaged California surfer girl. But closer, you saw the hardness and fanaticism of a much older woman.