Chapter 85

  A Smiling Devil

  (Darcy Renolds)

  “They’ve been in there a long time,” Jasmine mumbled.

  Hearing her, Darcy could only nod in agreement, as her own frustration began to take shape.

  “So, how long have you two known this Misha?” The man in the suit who even wore shades asked.

  Just being near the man, this Mr. James guy, caused an odd sort of tension to build within Darcy. While she got no overt vibes that he was hostile, there was a seeming underlying tension of power that he seemed to exude nonetheless.

  Watching him, Darcy couldn’t help but sense that the reason he wore his glasses had to do with magic. That if she somehow pulled his glasses off in conversation, she swore that she would see sparks coming to life just under his eyes.

  That said, with the power and energy coming off of him, even Jasmine seemed to be guarded. If the normally talkative Jasmine had her hackles up, then Darcy knew that she too would need to be careful.

  “What exactly do you wish to know about her?” Jasmine shot back, somewhat angered by the way this man in a suit barged his way into their conversation.

  “Oh, right.” The well-dressed man began, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out not one but two business cards perfectly from his inside pocket of his jacket. The move was so smooth that Darcy couldn’t help but feel impressed with the act. Even the way he grabbed the cards and separated them with but a twist of his thumb.

  Darcy played cards, at least she tried to, but she never perfected such movements and precision. Being able to reach into a pocket and smoothly separate the exact number of cards needed without bending the cards in question was a skill.

  Seeing that act was when Darcy too felt nervous.

  Anyone that was that smooth at pulling out cards from his pocket had to be shifty, her mind instantly going to a man playing poker in back water rooms where such a skill to get and transfer cards one handed would be needed. Why else would you practice such actions, as it clearly was not a most skill people would practice.

  Thus, she saw the heightened dexterous movements as being something done with sleight of hand or deception in mind.

  Out of reflex, Darcy held up her hand towards the card, but then quickly pulled her hand back when Jasmine stood up next to her and didn’t make a move towards the man.

  “Right, no problem. Cards are old anyways.” The salesman quipped, never missing a beat as he flicked his hand up and cased the two cards to disappear right before Darcy’s eyes.

  They had to have gone into his jacket sleeve, but the process was so smooth that Darcy couldn’t track it at all.

  Jasmine on the other hand crossed her arms in front of her large chest and just glared at the man.

  While the man seemed to be frightened or at least put back about the gesture, Darcy noticed something. The look was almost fake.

  Yes, the career dressed salesperson did seem to be intimidated by Jasmine’s outright refusal to listen or work with him, it was forced. At least that’s the way his actions appeared to be to Darcy.

  He was pandering, offering a false hollow smile as a way to relieve some of the tension. Yet, there in his eyes, through his dark shades, Darcy swore she saw defiance.

  Defiance that was highlighted by micro sparks of energy.

  Seeing the sparks, Darcy winced as the sight she saw was unnerving. Worse, it seemed that Darcy was the only one to notice his stare, as Jasmine remained firm. That or she wouldn’t back down knowing the setting and place.

  While these observations and more were going off in Darcy’s mind, the man seemed to regain control over his facial features. Within the span of a heartbeat or a single breath, the anger that had been there just moments ago was gone. The tension leading to and around his shade-covered eyes was no longer visible and he was back to being a calm and meek-looking high-profile accountant, or whatever his job title was.

  Darcy still didn’t know, as she never had a chance to see the card the man tried to present.

  From what she had gathered, it seemed that the first officer had confused him for being one of the alphabet agencies, but that quickly changed when a real alphabet agency person arrived.

  “Sorry, perhaps I set myself up on the wrong side of things here.” The man began, as he spoke, Darcy could almost feel him trying something. There was something oddly rhythmical about his words. “I know this must be a lot, your friend, gets injured, then a lot of people come to investigate.”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  He began, and as he spoke, Darcy knew that he was paying particular attention to their reactions when he said friend. As if gauging to see if there was something more to their relationship.

  “That said, those two that asked a lot of questions, they won’t tell you anything. Claiming an ongoing investigation and yadda-yadda-yadda.” The well-dressed man continued.

  “Now, I’m going to tell you freely what I know, without any requirements from you two.” He began, it was clear that he almost looked like he wanted to throw in something else but quickly caught himself and began.

  “So cards on the table,” the man began.

  As he said that, Darcy’s mind instantly rang in triumph as she was certain he played cards and that admission right there all but proved her to be correct. Her excitement was short lived as what he said next came as a sort of shock.

  “Now, I can tell you why I am here. Your friend, might have possibly broken a few Federal laws or statutes. At least that is what those two back there,” he said, pointing towards the door that the two officers went into. This was also the same set of doors that kept Misha away from them.

  “…That said, in order for it to be a true crime, the company offended, AKA mine, would need to want to press charges. Which we don’t. See, we see this as a business opportunity. A feel good story, and one where all sides can come out ahead.”

  At this, Darcy knew his powers of articulation were hard at work. Here he was painting himself as being on the side of Misha, and against any potential charges that the two officers might have against her. In fact, hearing him speak, Darcy suddenly felt a panic arise within her, as she realized that there might be some truth to his words. What had first just been a worry about whatever had attacked Misha, now turned into an attack and possible federal charges, at least if this man was to be believed.

  “See, what she did might have been illegal. That is taking over our networks to push out an emergency response, in a ten-mile radius directing people for help. In this, she effectively overrode our networks and momentarily pushed out a request for help. Now, I think such a charge would be thrown out before it made its way to trial, but it would still be a legal nightmare for anyone without a mountain of resources to fight. And while the Federal government might want to use us as wedge to further injure her. We want to do something completely contradictory to that.”

  He was good, his words flowed like honey and there was nothing that Darcy could see wrong at the moment.

  “Okay, and what is it that you are here to discuss?” Jasmine asked, her larger frame and intimidating presence clearly making her the one that would need to be calmed down should things escalate.

  “I want her and you to be the face of safety,” he quipped as he let his hands go wide as he seemed to try to get both Jasmine and Darcy within some unseen portrait view of a snapshot. With a practiced grace, he paused just long enough for Darcy to feel like she needed to ask the next obvious question, which was when he continued.

  “What she did, might have been against some obscure FAA regulation, but its intent, the purpose of saving a life. Directing medical resources to an area in the wilderness and sending out a distressed beacon in all directions is nothing short of miraculous. Even being able to send out a signal when no towers should have been able to reach or cover that area. When you consider how many people end up going missing or dying after falling off a cliff, her technology could save lives.”

  The more he spoke, the more Darcy thought he was right. There were always stories about hikers going and getting lost, or falling from trails, only to die slowly, or worse spending hours and hundreds of thousands in resources searching for an overly broad area in the attempts to find said person.

  “Also, this could possibly help with missing persons cases, or any number of other incidents that we read about. Imagine, with just the click of a button, the ability to force your phone to send a distress signal, and your exact geolocation to everyone within a ten-mile radius. We could save lives.” He then paused, “she has already saved a life, her own. Now all we want to do is to take her technology, one that clearly works with our own networks, patent it, and give her a royalty for every time someone is saved.”

  There was likely something in there that Darcy was missing, but his pitch, or at least his noted reason for being here, was convincing.

  The more he spoke, the more Jasmine’s rigid posture began to loosen up as well.

  “That’s all you want to talk to her about?” Jasmine asked, a note of caution in her words.

  “Honestly, no. The more I hear about this girl, the more I think she is an asset that would revolutionize the cellular industry. Our researchers are still trying to figure out how she managed to send such a message, which speaks volumes. Both for our own security, which she could help with, and the relative ease that such a safety implementation to our system would cost. Quite frankly, I am amazed that such a service hasn’t been automatically input into our phones already, but this is why you pay innovators. They do simple things that seem like it would normally be impossible, but come up with a clear and easy solution and boom, the world is a better place.”

  As he went on, it was clear that he either had true respect for Misha, or he just enjoyed innovators in general.

  Darcy was about to ask how he was getting all this information, when she noticed the tell-tale sign of a white earbud sticking out of his left ear, no doubt relaying most of the information he was now excited about.

  “So, the idea is, that you talk to her, and if she doesn’t agree to sell to you, you what turn her over to the Feds?” Jasmine asked acidly.

  Hearing her question, Darcy instantly nodded her approval, as that was not an angle she had considered. Fortunately, Jasmine was there to ask these hard questions. Ones that Darcy herself was apparently too na?ve or too trusting to ask.

  She knew this was a problem, particularly the longer she stayed here on campus. Which was why she valued her connection with Jasmine and Misha so fervently, as they were people who didn’t seem like they were going to take advantage of her. Heck, after the Hasty concert, she didn’t feel safe unless she saw either of them. When they were both together, she knew that she would be fine.

  “No, nothing like that. That might be what other providers would do, but I guarantee you, that if you two speak to her on my behalf and set up a meeting, no charges from the use of Aspirant networks will be able to be used against her in court. Furthermore, we will go out and publicly state that this was a witch hunt for a student that created valuable life saving technologies.” The man said and with the flick of his left hand, his opposite hand from the one that originally held the cards flicked upwards, revealing two cards.

  If Darcy didn’t know any better, she would swear these were the same two cards from before. That or he had a second pocket with two cards spring loaded and ready to go, should he get this far in negotiations. The idea that he planned that far in advance to fail, get a second chance, and be able to have a magic trick ready to go spoke volumes about her perception of the guy.

  With the two cards in hand, Jasmine and Darcy both hesitantly reached out to grab the two pristine cards. These have to cards made with a pearl finish, how Darcy instantly knew that, well it was a matter of dealing with all of her father’s business partners and executives over the years.

  She was just about to ask more about this man who seemed to have dropped in from out of nowhere, a virtual CEO, or high ranking executive for a mobile company that happened to be on hand at campus? It didn’t make sense, but before she could get too lost in her own thoughts, there was a slight stirring.

  Nothing much at first, but then first one, then two of the nurses behind the desk began to move. These girls didn’t even stand up on their apparent breaks, so the fact that they rose up now spoke volumes.

  Before Darcy could even inquire, even the well-dressed man seemed to shift his focus, and as he did that magnetic pull that he had. The one that pulled you in and helped you believe that you were the most important person in the world vanished. Revealing eyes that once again seemed to glow with a bright sort of intensity that could be described as supernatural.

  Ding.

  Just as Darcy was about to say something, to speak out the world erupted as the elevators once again charged to life as no less than five people surrounded a gurney, on which a very bloody and beaten girl lay.

  Seeing her, Darcy instantly froze as she had seen the girl somewhere, but her mind couldn’t make the connection as the face she saw was mangled, blurry, and covered in blood. But she had seen her, somewhere.

  Then before anyone could say anything, the man seemed to visibly deflate.

  “Right, well, with that, I am going to take my leave. Best of luck to your friend…” then the well dressed man left, making Darcy feel like she was somehow defiled for believing in the creep. That or, maybe she was just projecting her own insecurities onto the retreating man who quickly made his way to the now open elevator and left the floor.