The Sound of Wind by Raegan Millhollin
Chapter Twenty-Five - Weapons of Legend
Maggie couldn’t find Patrick, or John, or anyone from The Lazarus Group, but she could find the invisible man, Francis. He hadn’t made it very far, just to Idaho, which was to be expected with his limited resources. With Maggie displaying what she saw on her large projector, it was easy for Hugo to portal right behind Francis, CJ jumping through with him. There were several people on the street, but none of them acknowledged the sudden gust of wind or the appearance of two people out of nowhere; it was amazing what humans could dismiss if the actions fell outside of their expectations.
Francis noticed however, and quickly turned around, “Who are you?” He hissed, a hand slipping inside of his heavy coat.
“I work for the Phoenix Foundation,” Hugo replied, a little surprised to hear the undercurrent of pride in the acknowledgement, “I know about your situation with your daughter, and I’d like to help. That is, if you really have changed.”
In his surprise, Francis’ hand fell away from whatever weapon he’d had hidden in his coat, “You know where Mr. Gideon took my Sarah?” The man said softly, a strange wistfulness and genuine hope in his voice.
“I know the man who is caring for and protecting her. He’s a good man, so if you plan on treating your daughter like a tool again I have no qualms about leaving her with him.” CJ was strangely quiet but nodded her agreement.
Francis licked his lips, “What could I possibly do to convince you? I can’t take back what I’ve done to her, but I…I miss her. She’s my little girl, and she’s all I have left of my…my…” The man stared down at his open hands. His eyes squeezed shut, one hand curling into a fist, but then the moment passed and his body relaxed, and he opened his eyes again with a defeated sigh, “Do people ever really change?” He was staring at Hugo as if he had the answer, and strangely, he did.
“Yes. Yes they do. Let’s give Conrad a call.” Francis looked confused, and then as if he was trying to physically reign in his hope. Hugo pulled out his phone and dialed Conrad’s number.
“Hello?” The man’s voice was brisk.
“Hi Conrad, this is Hugo Meyers. I was there in New Zealand.”
“Yes,” Conrad responded, “I remember you. What can I do for you?”
Hugo smiled slightly at Francis, “I’m here with Francis, Sarah’s father. He wants to see his daughter, and you know Mr. Gideon doesn’t have a legitimate claim to her.”
Conrad’s response was surprisingly venomous, “That monster? I’d never let him anywhere-“
“I said let him see her. He loves her, Conrad, and people change. But I want you to continue supervising Sarah until you are comfortable with returning her to her father. If ever.” Francis wasn’t breathing.
There was a long pause on the other end of the line; Hugo wished he could see the man’s expressions. He had a feeling Conrad’s hesitation wasn’t entirely altruistic, you couldn’t take care of a child that long without growing attached to them.
“Very well,” Conrad finally said, his voice resigned, “But he is not allowed to know where we live. We will come to him, and the visits will have to be in public, with my supervision,” his voice was sharp and insistent; there would be no argument there.
“Deal. Thank you Conrad, I know this is hard for you. I’ll give Francis your number so that you two can arrange the first meeting.”
“Very well,” The man replied, then hung up.
Hugo rooted through his pockets, then looked at CJ, “CJ, do you have some paper and a pen?”
CJ scrunched up her nose and started digging through the myriad pockets in her cargo pants, “I think so…let…me…just….there!” She triumphantly pulled out a pen and a surprisingly neatly folded piece of paper.
Hugo recognized it as the one that had gotten him to leave the warehouse with the database the first time and he smiled. That was going to confuse Francis. Hugo tried to write down Conrad’s number as legibly as possible. “Arrange a meeting for at least a few days from now. Conrad is going to supervise at first, but if you behave it will get better.”
Francis snatched the piece of paper from Hugo’s hand, slipping it into an inner pocket of his coat, “Thank you, Hugo. I’ve never heard of the Phoenix Foundation, but I owe you everything.”
Hugo blushed at that, “T-that’s ok. Alright, let’s go CJ.” He created a portal that ruffled everyone’s hair and the two of them stepped through into the Phoenix Foundation building.
CJ tilted her head away from him, examining his face, “Do you think that will work out?” Hugo nodded. “Good, cause that was really…well…it was a good thing,” the girl trailed off, pulling at a belt-loop in her baggy army-green pants and then continued down the hallway with him.
Hugo started worrying his thumbnail, “Let’s go to the cafeteria, I need some coffee before we go to Egypt where Maggie found Thoth.”
“Oh! Good plan!” CJ smiled and skipped ahead of him.
The situation wasn’t looking good when Hugo yawned several times before they made it to the cafeteria, and tripped over nothing once and almost hit the floor, to CJ’s amusement. Clem strolled into the cafeteria as Hugo took the first sip of his coffee.
The man raised an eyebrow at the sight of them, and then the easy smile took over, “How did it go with our invisible man?”
“Good!” CJ interjected enthusiastically around a bagel she had shoved in her mouth, “Conrad is going to let them talk to each other.”
Clem nodded approvingly. Hugo briefly wished Clem had been with them to tell him what Francis had really been thinking, but the jazz guitarist had become very absorbed in getting the Phoenix Foundation up and running.
“Have you heard from Crysta?” Hugo asked suddenly, a little startled he hadn’t noticed he’d been thinking about it.
“Nope,” Clem said, for some reason the smile spreading, “I imagine she’s still recovering.”
Hugo nodded absently, “Ok. CJ, let’s go find Thoth then.” He created a portal to a back alley of Cairo, irritated at the small wave of dizziness it caused. CJ and Clem were staring at him, unmoving. “What?”
Clem rolled his eyes, “Just stop. Go take a nap. I bet the time-controlling Egyptian god has a measure of patience.”
“I don’t-” Hugo cut off the premature argument, guessing from the expression on Clem’s face that being able to convince the man of anything else would be impossible. Besides it was true and CJ could probably use a break as well. He ran the palm of his hand down his face with a sigh, “Ok, ok. Meet me back here in 3 hours?”
Clem looked up at the ceiling as he tried to remember something and then shook his head, “I having a meeting with some contractors around then,” he smirked, “Can I leave you two to take care of it?” Hugo rolled his eyes.
CJ shook her head, “Don’t know why you wanna ditch us to do boring stuff, but yeah, we can definitely handle it.” She threw a grin at Hugo and he returned it with a nod.
Clem chuckled, “The so-called boring stuff will get this place up and running. Now if you’ll excuse me…” The man grabbed a juice, gave them a small wave and left the room.
CJ bounced away and Hugo took his coffee with him to his office in case he needed it when he woke up, and then set the alarm on his phone. Finally he rolled onto the couch, which he luckily had considering his otherwise complete lack of furniture, and very quickly dropped into the dark of sleep.