Meet Sam Wayne, Part 2
By: C. Leuch
CJ stepped out of the shower and toweled off, smiling a little at the comfortable warmness of the steamy bathroom. The drowned rat appearance was something that he was not fond of, and neither was eau de salt water. A little soap and some time under a showerhead could soothe away almost any problem, and for a moment it had managed to make him forget about everything that had happened that morning. But it only took a glance around the bathroom and the acknowledgement of where he was and why to make it all come back.
It was never any good to dwell on the negatives, CJ told himself as he wrapped the towel around his waist and shuffled over to the door. At least the sun was shining, right? As he opened the door and walked out into the hallway, he noticed that the window shades had been drawn, leaving him in relative darkness. Now frowning, he made his way to his old bedroom, noting the closed drapes. Apparently there was no sunbathing for him today.
“They don’t want anyone to see you here.” The voice came from the general direction of his bed, which was pushed against the wall adjacent to the door. With a start, CJ turned toward the source of the comment, not really needing to see who it was to know who had said the words. His smile immediately returned as he drank in the sight of her.
“I guess I’m not very presentable right now, anyway,” he said, trying to make light of the situation. The corners of Jenny’s mouth turned up ever so slightly, the twinkle shining gently in her eyes.
“I’d still peep on you,” she said, and CJ felt a little of his pent up anxiety ease away. He reached behind himself and closed the bedroom door, giving them a little more privacy. Jenny patted the bed beside her, and he quickly strode over and sat down where she had indicated. He regarded her as he sat, and wondered for a moment if she had been having the same thoughts that he had. If she had, she probably wouldn’t be nearly as outwardly calm as she appeared at the moment. It was nice to keep the unreality of the situation at an arms length, to pretend that everything is as it always had been and that nothing has changed, but at some point they had to be honest with themselves about what had happened.
With a sigh, CJ leaned against the wall, grabbing for Jenny’s hand as he did. “How are you doing?” he asked, not knowing where else to start. Jenny shrugged and scooted back until she was also against the wall.
“Fine, I guess. But something tells me that I won’t be pretty soon. How about you?” She leaned over, resting her head on his shoulder. CJ closed his eyes and released her hand, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
“As good as can be expected for someone who rode a jumbo jet into the Atlantic from five miles up,” he said, tightness creeping into his voice. “I’m still here, but by all rights, I should be....”
“Dead,” Jenny said, completing his sentence. She sighed. “Something tells me that, in an official sense, you already are.”
“Yeah, me too,” he said, his arm around her shoulders pulling her closer toward him. “I was sitting there in the mud this morning, hiding away from humanity and watching Dad and Jon do their work at the crash site, and it occurred to me that there might not be a way out of this one,” he said, gesturing with his free hand. “I mean, here I am, holed up in the house I grew up in, stuck behind closed blinds so that no living soul outside of this family can know I’m here. That’s not like pretending to not be as strong as I am or not using heat vision or cooling breath in public. You can’t dismiss yourself from an event that killed everyone else around you. You can’t pretend to not be dead.”
“Maybe you didn’t get on the plane. Maybe you ducked away somewhere between the gate and the door,” Jenny said, but CJ only shook his head. He’d considered both of those scenarios, desperately hoping that they were just enough to let him be officially alive, but he knew that there was no way that either could explain his situation.
“With the state of security these days, they know exactly who gets on every flight, and they have cameras following you all the way down that walkway and onto the plane. If you could somehow squeeze through that little gap between the gate and the body of the plane and then jump ten feet to the ground, there are dozens of workers around to catch you. The passenger manifest will come out soon, and I’ll be on it, and there will be no going back.” Silence fell across the room and neither of them spoke. CJ’s eyes surveyed the surroundings, looking at all his old belongings, the trophies and awards and silly little trinkets that he never really paid much attention to before. But now they stood as reminders to life that he would have to simply walk away from.
“I’m 22 years old. I know that I was planning to move out of Metropolis, but to never be able to come back to all this, to my family, to you. I can’t be dead.”
Jenny smiled ever so slightly. “You’re not dead. Your name is dead, but you, the person behind the mask, so to speak, walked away from it unscathed,” she said, and he caught himself smiling lightly, too, but it quickly faded.
“Yeah, I did. But now what? We had plans, jobs...a future. We barely had a past.”
“Nobody can take away your memories or your past experiences. For what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure you can still have your job,” Jenny answered as she lifted her head from his shoulder. “You don’t need to be Clark Kent to be Batman.”
“True,” he said with an appreciative duck of the head.
“As for our future, well, you did agree to the whole ‘till death do we part’ thing, and I don’t expect this one little technicality to void that. We’ll make it work; we’ll have to...for the good of our child.”
The mild depression that had settled over CJ suddenly went away, and he found that he couldn’t speak, couldn’t think, couldn’t move. In slow motion, his eyes found hers, then wandered down her body until they reached her belly. “You...?” he finally rasped, his mouth dry.
She nodded. “I found out right before I saw the news,” she said, a smile on her face. Impulsively, he leaned over and kissed her deeply, possessively. Her arms reached behind his bare torso and she pulled him toward her, both tumbling over onto their sides on the bed. No, he couldn’t walk away from this, wouldn’t even dream about walking away from this. He wouldn’t let something as insignificant as death tear him away from the future that they had planned for, together. She was right, they would have to make it work some way. But how?
He pulled away from her reluctantly, a dark corner of his mind telling him that whatever the solution was, it wasn’t going to be easy. Would they have to sneak around under the cover of night, meeting covertly in secret places? What kind of a life would that be? If it wasn’t for that damn plane wreck....
Jenny’s hand brushed against his cheek, urging him away from his dark mood. “Since when did you become the type to wallow?” she asked, her smile playful.
“I’m sorry,” he said, marveling at how well she could sense his moods. “I guess it’s just a lot to take in. Death...life...it’s a funny world.”
“Tell me about it,” she answered, coaxing a grin out of him.
“So, are you going to be okay?” he asked as he rolled onto his side next to her.
Jenny shrugged again. “I guess we’ll see. I’ve never been one to live life by the seat of my pants, but until we get it all figured out, that’s what we’ll have to do.”
“But what about –“ he started, but she reached over and placed a finger on his lips.
“It’s too soon to start worrying about things. Wait a few days for the dust to settle. Call Mr. Wayne, see what you can work out. He called me this morning, by the way.”
“He did?” CJ asked
“Right after I saw the news,” Jenny said with a nod. “He wanted to talk to you, whenever you got a minute.”
CJ sat up, his mind working. Bruce wanted to talk to him? Maybe he wanted to update their schedule, maybe he was just expressing his condolences. Or, he thought with a new kernel of hope, maybe Bruce had a plan.
With a grunt, Jenny pushed herself into a sitting position, then patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll let you get ready. Some clothes from home are over on the dresser.” She leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, then stood up and took a step toward the door. “Since you’re going to be officially deceased soon, maybe we should make the most of the rest of the day, right here with your family. They’re waiting downstairs.”
CJ nodded. “Yeah, I’d like that.” With that, she gave him a smile, then left his room. It was still hard to grasp the idea that he would have to just disappear, that he could never visit this place after tonight. What was it that he had told himself earlier? It was best not to dwell on the negative. And with so much positive in his life, even after “death,” it was advice best taken. With a new sense of purpose, he readied himself to join his family for possibly the last time.
***
“I think I see a ghost,” Laura said as CJ made his way down the stairs. Clark held his breath for a moment, waiting to see CJ’s reaction, and was relieved to see a self-effacing smile spread across his face.
“Be glad I’m not a zombie,” CJ replied, his sense of humor obviously still intact.
Jon, leaning against the wall across from the staircase, decided to chip in. “Well, he has been known crave brains. You know, in his dates and stuff.”
Everyone smiled. There was something about a little ribbing that made all the problems go away. Humor was a constant presence in their house, especially when most of the family was gathered, but Clark couldn’t help but feel that there was a bit of a bittersweet tinge to it today. The get-together was spontaneous, born of an inherent understanding on everyone’s part of what the near future would hold. By the time Clark had returned from helping out at the crash site, Jon had already gone to get Jenny, and Lois and excused the whole family from work for the rest of the day, telling their editor as much of the truth as she could. How she had known that CJ was on that plane, he still didn’t know. Diane had promised to stop by after work, and Laura had decided to skip her summer class for the sake of spending a day at home.
What everybody knew but nobody wanted to say was that, barring a miracle or a brilliant stroke of deductive reasoning, CJ would be officially listed as a casualty of the plane crash. Of course he would still be very much alive, and they would be able to see him covertly, but they could never publicly be together as a family again. Publicly they would have to be the grieving family, and even privately there might be a fair amount of gloom. The situation would also mean that there was one more secret to add to the growing list of family secrets, and something told Clark that this one might be hard to keep. To only be able to talk about his son in the past tense would be especially hard.
From behind him, Lois placed a hand on his shoulder, breaking his train of thought. He looked at her, and she just smiled knowingly, her expression telling him that he worried too much. “Who wants sandwiches?” she asked loudly, looking away from him and toward the assembled family in the living room, essentially dropping the subject of his tendency to fret until they had a little time alone. Clark turned and slipped his arm around her waist, watching Laura, Jenny, and Jon file past them into the dining room. He tried to put on a better face for them, to join in the laughter even if it was tinged with sadness, but he knew that there was something that he had to do before he could put his anxiety aside.
“We’ll just be a sec,” he told Lois as CJ finished descending the stairs and approached. She nodded, and he released her, gesturing to CJ to follow him toward the den. CJ looked back toward the rest of the family, shrugged comically, then strode behind Clark to the den. Clark closed the doors behind him.
“What’s up?” CJ asked as he settled into the small love seat. Clark sat down at the desk, swiveled the chair, and regarded CJ for a moment. Even away from the rest of the assembled family, CJ still appeared to be in good spirits, although by all rights he should be at least somewhat upset.
“I just wanted to talk about what happened today, and try to figure out what the plan is from here on out,” Clark said. “When I talked to the guys from the FAA and NTSB, I left the door open for possible survivors.”
CJ’s smile was grateful, yet resigned. “But how?” he asked. “I think you and I both know that there’s no way there could’ve been any out of a crash like that.”
Clark sighed and nodded. “That doesn’t stop the fact that there was one.” Clark glanced out the door, toward the dining room, then looked back toward CJ. “There’s quite a brain trust assembled out there. I’m sure we can think of something.”
CJ nodded slowly, his expression thoughtful. “I guess it won’t do any harm to toss a few thoughts around,” he said, then looked back toward Clark, all humor now absent from his face. “In the absence of anything plausible, though, I think Laura’s right. I’m a ghost. And I have made peace with that.”
Clark frowned at his words, causing CJ’s expression soften. “Look, Dad, it’s just a name that’s gone.” CJ smiled lightly, glancing down at Clark’s chest before meeting his eyes again. “I think this family knows a thing or three about assuming identities. Anyway, being ‘dead’ won’t mean that I’ll forget about you guys.” CJ used his fingers to add parenthesis to the word “dead,” and Clark couldn’t help but smile at his optimism.
“No, you’re right. But I just want to be sure that you’ve thought about what it means, that’s all. To not see any of your friends or family again, to never be able to talk to anyone about what you saw and did before you assumed your new identity.” Clark’s voice got soft as he looked at Jenny in the room beyond. “To turn your back on your soul mate.”
CJ shook his head, the good humor dropping from his face. “Jenny and I will make it work somehow. I’m not about to let her go. But all that other stuff....” His expression was sad, but the light in his eyes was warm as he looked directly at Clark. “Coming up with some lamebrain, implausible excuse to explain away my survival might mean that people take a closer look at me, and then at my family. If I say that some magic force rescued me from harm while everyone else died, someone is quite justifiably going to start digging into the real reason why, and in doing so might stumble upon the big secret and expose you and Jon and everyone else. I’d gladly give up my identity if it means not exposing everyone else’s.”
For a moment, Clark was too shocked to do much more than gape at his son. Then a deep sense of pride washed over him, and he had to stop himself from pulling CJ into a bear hug. “I guess I can’t argue with that logic,” Clark finally said with a smile. CJ’s expression morphed into the lopsided mischievous grin that Clark was all too familiar with, and suddenly everything seemed like it had always been.
“Don’t say I never gave you anything,” CJ said, and Clark found himself laughing gently, shaking his head.
“I’m sure going to miss your visits around here, kiddo,” Clark replied, rising from the chair and reaching out to tousle CJ’s hair, just like he used to when CJ was younger.
“That makes two of us,” CJ answered, his smile fading a little at the serious undertones of their conversation, even if it was meant to be light. “So, uh, how about I give you another little something to remember tonight by?”
“Like...?” Clark took a step toward the door, intending for him and CJ to join the rest of the family around the lunch table, but curiosity halted his forward progress.
“Some long distance charges. I need to give Bruce a call. Jenny said that he phoned the apartment this morning right after the accident.”
“He did, huh?” Clark replied, his smile widening a bit. Bruce always seemed to have something interesting up his sleeve, and Clark couldn’t help but wonder what it was in this circumstance. As CJ nodded, Clark opened the door. “Yeah, go ahead. I’ll be interested to hear what he has to say.”
With that, Clark walked out of the den and closed the door, giving CJ some privacy while he made his call. Clark would be the first to admit that he tended to internalize things, to scare himself with the possible negative scenarios that could come out of any given situation, and he had no doubt that he would be doing just that if he hadn’t pulled CJ aside and talked the situation through. Time and time again, he was amazed at how outwardly negative situations could become positive, and how resilient and upbeat people could be when faced with adversity. He wouldn’t lie to himself and say that CJ’s predicament was bound to lead to a rosy outcome, but at the same time, CJ had a good head on his shoulders, a positive outlook and an ally in Bruce Wayne who was used to producing unique solutions to tough problems.
Not for the first time, Clark wondered how it was that Mad Dog Lane and a neurotic superhero managed to bring into the world children who so completely lacked their parents’ character flaws, but quickly dismissed the thought with a smile and a shake of his head. Some mysteries were just best left unanswered.
***
The rest of the day at the Kent house seemed to fly by. The family spent most of the afternoon in the backyard after a quick scan revealed that all the surrounding neighbors were safely off at work. Although the temperature was enough to make the average mortal somewhat uncomfortable, Clark and the younger Kents played a spirited game of football without even a passing acknowledgement of the heat. Lois, Jenny, and later Diane gathered in a shady spot under one of the large trees, sipping lemonade and occasionally playing cheerleader. They shared interesting anecdotes about their husbands in hushed tones, eliciting giggles that drew worried glances from the men. As the afternoon changed to evening and it became time for the neighbors to arrive home, they all moved inside and gathered around the kitchen table for supper and then to play games.
Somewhere along the way, the games stopped and the story telling began as the family migrated to the more comfortable couches and chairs of the living room. Clark told of the time that he had officially died, and how it had just happened to occur while investigating a case in which a scientist was bringing dead gangsters back from the grave. It made for a happy coincidence, although Jenny noted that Lois looked a little less than happy while the story was being told. As the conversation moved on, they reminisced of family vacations in times gone by, of developing powers and new experiences, and of graduations and weddings and borrowed abilities that materialized as interesting Christmas gifts and faded out with the coming of a particularly lovely spring. The memories were all happy, the love palpable. Once the old stories began to run out and the conversation began to die down, CJ finally announced to the family that Lois and Clark were going to be grandparents, throwing in a couple of jokes about the fact. A bottle of champagne emerged from the refrigerator a short time later as everyone congratulated the new parents-to-be and toasted to what could only be a bright future.
After a while, when the sun had gone down and the eyelids of the assembled family members began to droop, CJ took Jenny’s hand, dismissed them from the rest of the family, and led her to the backyard. They settled down in the lawn chairs, leaned back, and gazed up toward the sea of stars in the pristine sky above, their hands still entwined. Jenny tried not to think about the fact that this was probably his goodbye to her.
“Bruce wants me to go to Gotham tonight. For good. He basically said what you had earlier, that my night job was still there for me, dead identity or no. Today’s events would just speed up the transition a little,” CJ said, and Jenny nodded. “But there was something else.”
“Something else?”
“Something big. I could tell in his voice. He’s always so straightforward and serious, you know? But on the phone, he almost seemed nervous. He’s the last person in the world that I’d ever see as nervous.”
Above them, an airplane flew from south to north, its lights blinking gently as it made its way across the sky. “Well, you know him a lot better than I do, but yeah. Weird.” Jenny sighed. “So then....”
“Then,” CJ said, turning toward her. “He told me in no uncertain terms that you should keep your plans and head on out to Gotham. Though I don’t think I’m going to be much help in finding your big shade trees and white picket fence.”
“If you’re there, it could have big cockroaches and barred windows, and I wouldn’t care,” Jenny said with a smile. CJ tugged gently at her arm, and her smile broadened. Slowly, she turned in the chair until she was sideways, facing him. “Yes?” she said with a giggle.
“Come here,” he said, patting his lap. “Give a dead guy a kiss.”
“How romantic.” She smirked as she rose from the chair, then took a step sideways and eased into his lap, immediately leaning down and gently kissing him.
“Might I recommend, though, that if you fly out to Gotham to visit, you take Superman Express,” CJ said, a serious tone in his voice.
“I think that’s definitely going to be the only way I fly for awhile,” Jenny answered. She curled up against his chest, resting her head on his shoulder. “I’m going to miss you,” she said after a moment.
CJ sighed heavily, then captured her lips again. “Not for long,” he said after they pulled apart.
“I hope not.” The cicadas hummed gently in the trees along the back of the property, and Jenny closed her eyes and smiled a little, trying to capture the moment.
“I love you, you know. I always will.” His voice was soft, the usual teasing undertones absent. The hand perched on her waist wandered to her belly, slipping gently under her shirt. “Both of you.”
The reality of the situation seemed to hit her at that moment. Until everything got sorted out, until Bruce enacted whatever big plan he had brewing and CJ assumed whatever new identity he would have, moments like these would be few and far between. They might end up in the same city, but they could be worlds apart, especially if they couldn’t see each other publicly. Jenny buried her face against his neck and felt a tear make its way down her cheek. “I love you too.”
She didn’t know how long they sat like that. It felt like an eternity, but as he repositioned his arms and rose up from the chair with her gathered against him, it seemed to be far too short.
“It’s getting late, and we all need to get going. Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day,” he said. She tilted her head back, locked eyes with him, and then nodded gently. Slowly, he leaned over and she slipped out of his arms, planting her feet on the ground. Hand in hand, they walked into the house, where the assembled family appeared to be chatting normally, outwardly oblivious to their return, but everyone’s eyes seemed to say otherwise.
A few minutes later, after the family said their goodbyes, CJ and Clark left for Gotham. Before they left, Jenny made sure to stop Clark and plant a big wet kiss on his cheek, just to thank him. CJ had survived that crash and for that she was grateful beyond words. If he had been any normal mortal, he wouldn’t have, and she would be mourning his passing rather than lamenting the inconvenience of his temporary absence from her life. It was thanks to Clark being who he was, for being CJ’s father, that CJ wasn’t just any normal mortal, and for that Clark deserved to know how grateful she was. He was somewhat startled by her kiss, and seemed acutely embarrassed, but he accepted her thanks graciously.
Shortly thereafter, Jon and Diane gave Jenny a ride home. As she stood outside the apartment building, hand on the front door, and watched the two of them drive away, she became aware for the first time that she was lonely. The feeling followed her down the hallway and up the stairs, strengthening as she unlocked her door and stepped inside. It was strange how empty and cold the apartment felt, she thought as she flipped the light switch and turned to lock the door behind her. This was the apartment that CJ had lived in throughout his time in college, at first sharing it with his brother, and for about the last year or so, sharing it with Jenny. To her, this was his place, and his mark was all over it, from the picture of Einstein hanging on the living room wall to the framed pictures of his Metropolis University football teams that were perched on the coffee tables flanking the couch. His shoes still sat on a mat by the front door, and the faint odor of his aftershave seemed to permeate everything, giving the apartment a fragrant tinge. It was comforting in a way to have all these reminders of him surrounding her if he couldn’t be there himself, she supposed, and she always had her happy memories of him to keep her company, but they was no substitute for his presence.
With a sigh, she flopped down on the couch and decided to chase away some of the loneliness by phoning her mother. It was a phone call that she was dreading, one that would be filled with the best and worst of news, and with a few horrible lies. Her parents still didn’t know that CJ was the son of one Superman and the brother of another, nor did they know what the real motivation had been for their initial decision to move to Gotham City. Before today’s accident, she had no qualms about leaving them in the dark, about omitting certain details about the Kent family that they really didn’t need to know. It wasn’t lying that way, she supposed, and CJ had agreed with her. But that meant that tonight, she would have to tell them that CJ was on that plane, and as soon as they inevitably asked if he was dead, she would have to tell her first lie. Her parents deserved to know the truth, they deserved to not have to go through the grieving process, but she couldn’t think of a way to tell them without opening up a whole different can of worms. Maybe Lois and Clark would have some thoughts on the matter, and maybe, before it was all over with, she could get the truth out in the open. But for now, as much as she hated it, she had to swallow her fears and make the call.
The talk went about as she expected. Jenny told them the bad news first, cringing as her mother started to cry over the phone. She tried to soften the blow with the news of her pregnancy, but that only made her mother cry harder. Jenny told her that her baby would know at the very least that he or she had a father who loved him or her very much, and that stopped the tears, at least for a moment. Despite the fact that CJ had only recently fallen victim to an airplane crash, Jenny’s parents told her that they would take the next available flight to Metropolis, and that any further conversation could wait until then. Her parents agreed to give her a call once they knew their flight details, and that was that. She would need the support of the Kents to get her through her parent’s visit, and after a short call to Lois, Jenny was assured that she wouldn’t have to face them alone. That was something, at least.
Not too much later, right before the late news, the airline called. The Metro Air representative told Jenny in soothing yet matter-of-fact tones that CJ was among the dead from the crash of Flight 329. Jenny replied that she knew that already, and thought about asking how many other phone call recipients had honestly been unaware of the fate of their loved one. The rest of the conversation was mercifully short. Jenny assumed that she had been the last relative of a traveler to be informed of their loved ones’ fates, given how often the airline’s phone number had showed up in the caller ID list from that day. If that were the case, it meant that there was nothing stopping the airline from releasing list to the public, allowing the real circus to begin. It was only about ten minutes later that a lawyer called. Apparently, a class action lawsuit against the airline was already being prepared, in the name of everyone that had fallen victim to whatever wrong the lawyer thought was committed. Jenny told him to take a hike, then unplugged her phone. It was definitely time to get some sleep and put this day behind her.
With a sigh, she walked into her bedroom, looked at the bed where she had awoken alone that morning, and thought of the prospect of weeks or months with nobody by her side. At least he was here in spirit, she thought, pulling back the sheet. As she laid down, she looked toward the door, where she had officially seen her husband last, remembering their conversation with a crooked smile. Like he had said then, it wasn’t forever. But she had no doubt that it would feel like it.
After a while, she drifted into a peaceful sleep.
***
Jon Kent couldn’t help but notice the sideways looks that he got as he made his way into work the next morning. His parents had taken the day off, outwardly to help take care of arrangements, although he suspected that they would be spending a lot of their time lending moral support to Jenny. Her parents were supposed to be flying in from Missouri that day, and he knew that they would all be getting together later. It was a gathering that he hoped to avoid. Trying to act the part of the bereaved brother consoling the grieving in-laws was not something that he looked forward to. Besides, his vacation time was somewhat scarce, thanks to a recent cyclone in the Indian Ocean. So here he was, working. Nobody said it would be easy, though.
He tried to avoid eye contact with his colleagues, keeping his gaze downward as he wound his way toward his desk. The passenger list of the doomed flight had been released the night before, and was a front page headline on every major paper in America. In tragedies like this, reporters tended to pick out the names of those that might have even minor celebrity status, and CJ’s name fit the bill, even at papers other than those in Metropolis. He had been the son of fairly well-known, award-winning reporters. He had also been a four-year letter winner on a major, successful, college football program, landing his obituary on more than a few sports pages throughout the country. The Daily Planet had a nice sidebar on their personal connection to CJ, written by Jimmy and a few other reporters that had known the Kent family for a long time. The coverage didn’t bother Jon, honestly. He was just glad that he hadn’t been asked to participate in any of it. But as big as the story was, there were still plenty of other interesting things happening throughout Metropolis and rest of the world, and that was what he hoped to work on that day.
Coworkers stopped by throughout the morning to offer Jon their condolences, and he accepted them all graciously, although he hated the deception. The interruptions made his work slow going, but he managed to hunt down a few promising leads on possible stories. He decided it would probably be less stressful to continue his investigations out of the office, and was just getting up to leave when his phone rang. It was probably another condolence call, he thought gloomily as he reached down to pick it up.
“Jon Kent,” he said crisply, trying not to let his growing bad mood show through.
“Hey stranger.” Diane was on the other end of the line, a fact that made his bad mood instantly clear up and a small smile appear on his face. He sat back down in his chair and set his briefcase beside him.
“Hey yourself. To what do I owe the pleasure?” For someone who had been more than a little unfriendly toward the press at the beginning of her police career, Diane had become one of Jon’s best sources for interesting or unique stories. She was constantly giving him tips based on things that she had seen or heard around the police station. Many of the stories were of odd arrests, or of shady goings on that the police had been investigating but were unable to pursue due to lack of evidence or some other technicality. Often the Planet could acquire information in ways that the police could not, and while such information was generally not useful to a police case, it could be utilized to find some that was, leading to the mutually beneficial arrest of a criminal and a front page story for the Planet. Sometimes, the best the Planet could do would be to publicize a story to get an outcome that, while often still not resulting in criminal charges, could at least alert the world to the problem, or finger someone as being the piece of trash that they were. Jon always felt that the part of Diane that had led her to become a cop and later, for a while at least, a superhero, the part that valued law and order and justice, was satisfied with that arrangement, especially if it meant that the public good was ultimately fulfilled in an honest manner.
“I heard an interesting story around the station this morning,” Diane said. Jon reached for a pen and a notepad, and poised himself to take down her information.
“Yeah?” he said, coaxing her on.
“The Metro Air corporate office is a pretty popular place this morning, given what happened yesterday. The big three networks are camped out front, bugging the employees and what not, trying to get quotes.”
“Just like they always do after something big.”
“Yeah,” Diane said, sensing the slight distaste in his words. Jon definitely was not keen on the in-your-face style of journalism. “Anyway, a couple of our guys got sent down there to deal with them, and it came back that reporters weren’t the only ones harassing the company.”
“Oh?”
“There’s this group of protesters with signs. But it’s not a consumer safety group or grieving families or anything like that. Apparently the signs read something to the effect of, ‘Metro Air and its customers got what they deserved.’ Real sick stuff. Stuff the big three networks even had the good taste to ignore.”
Jon felt him mouth grow dry and his lip curl up. Sick was probably the kindest word he’d use for those people. “Nobody deserves a death by plane crash,” Jon rasped.
“No,” Diane said, her voice sympathetic. “And I personally think that these yahoos should get all the screen time they can, just so people can see what kind of twisted nutbags are out there. But that’s not why I called.” She stopped for a second, took a breath, and continued, her voice businesslike. “The interesting part of the story is that some guys around here have said that those same protesters were out in front of the Metro Air offices fairly regularly before the crash, holding similar signs. Metro Air is a big corporation that mistreats its workers, has dupes for customers, and should be destroyed plane by plane, stuff like that.”
“So either it’s a big coincidence that one of their planes just happened to go down, or....”
“I don’t like to speculate about something like that,” Diane said.
Jon leaned back in his seat, his mind spinning. “They’ve had a history with their unions, if I recall. Went and hired a bunch of replacement workers when one of the unions went on strike.”
“Yeah I think I remember hearing something about that,” Diane said thoughtfully. “They also cut all their employee benefits and pensions to avoid Chapter 11, I think.”
“So you have the potential for a lot of people who could have a lot of hard feelings.”
“And don’t discount the number of whackos and conspiracy theorists looking for any excuse to be mad at big companies. If the two happen to find each other, who knows what could happen.”
“Gosh, that sounds suspiciously like a conspiracy theory,” Jon said with a grin. “I’m surprised, you know, coming from someone who doesn’t like to speculate about things.”
“I’m just thinking out loud. It’s not my job to go chasing after every farfetched scenario, especially absent any type of evidence. We leave the conspiracy theories to you guys,” Diane said, her smile coming through in her voice. When they first met, Diane wasn’t much for teasing, but a little time around his family had brought out a keen ability to give as good as she got.
“Hey, conspiracies sell,” he said in a light tone. “And every now and then they turn out to be true.”
“Sasquatch would beg to differ,” she said, and he laughed lightly.
“Anyway, thanks for the tip,” he said, the light tones quickly dropping from his voice. “Not that I have anything against theories, I just hope that you’re right and there’s nothing here to speculate about. Still, I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.”
“Yeah, me too,” she said quietly.
“I’ll keep you informed. See you tonight?”
“Always. Love you.”
“Love you, too.” With that, he put the phone down, and stared blankly at his desk for a moment. It seemed horrific to even speculate that a plane crash could be anything other than an accident. Even if there were some crazy people out there who thought that business in general was wrong, who thought that a given company’s policies were unfair or even criminal, surely they wouldn’t advocate that people should die as a result. He could see these people making the argument that the customers were not innocents, that they contributed to the problem, but to even think about killing in the name of an ideology, or as a form of protest? And even if one group advocated such a thing, how could anyone have the heart to go through with it?
The thought of domestic terrorists was a scary one, but it seemed pretty far-fetched, even for someone who spent a fair amount of time chasing after wild theories. Jon wanted to believe that rational human beings wouldn’t do such a thing, but realistically, he lived in a world where terrorism did exist, even on American soil. It was worth taking a look at these people, if only to ease his fears. Plus, Diane was right. Maybe someone needed to get the story of these people out there if only to stir up public outrage.
Slowly, Jon rose to his feet and picked up his briefcase. Maybe speaking with one of the protestors would tell him everything he needed to know. And if not, well, he had other ways of finding out the truth. His mind made up, he strode toward the elevators. Next stop, Metro Air headquarters.
