NOVEL NEXT Chapter Fifteen: A Good Team
Theodore uses one hand to shovel berries into his mouth from a metal plate. He glances over at Teresa, who has fallen asleep several feet away—her lab coat draped over her body like a blanket. After a moment, he turns to look at Harold. Harold is seated on the floor, leaning on a table opposite Theodore. His eyes have been on the chief engineer ever since they untied his hands. Theodore’s legs and torso remain securely tied to the chair.
“You know, Harold,” Theodore says. “I agreed to play fair. I promised not to do anything crazy. I don’t understand why you still need to keep me tied up. I’m not too much good to you trussed up like a turkey.”
Harold’s voice remains level and he simply stares at Theodore.
“Like Dr. Boyd said…,” Harold replies. “We’re going to do this in stages. You show us you’re a man of your word. We untie you in the morning. Or, when Dr. Boyd thinks you’ve proven yourself. I mean…You did threaten to kill her, Theo. Not to mention, all the physical violence—and the corporate espionage bullcrap. Bess and so many others are dead because of what you’ve done. I think Dr. Boyd has every right to be skeptical.”
Theodore draws his mouth into a firm line and nods. He isn't happy, but what the hell can he do about it.
“Fair enough,” the chief engineer says reluctantly.
“So…Uh. You said, you've dabbled in a few things. What kind of things?” Theodore says after a brief pause.
Harold leans forward and steeples his hands. While he isn't really in the mood for smalltalk, it beats doing nothing but staring at Theodore's ugly mug for hours.
“Well, before I signed on with the science division of Dayshadow…I was a second year engineering student.”
“You don’t say?” Theodore drawls, his voice thick with surprise.
“Uh…Yeah,” Harold responds. “My dad and I…Uh. We once built an old car in his garage…Basically an Old Earth Model Ford. We had to change a bunch of things…In order to not run afoul of the patent office. But yeah, basically we built an old Ford from scratch…Right in my dad’s garage. Thing ran like a dream. Drove it to Homecoming, Prom, and graduation. I miss that old relic. Best thing me and my dad ever did together. It was great. I shifted from engineering to biology when dad died. It wasn’t the same working on things without him. I couldn’t ask him for advice anymore. I couldn’t call him over for a beer and shoot the breeze while we worked on a new project. I tried to include my kid brother from time to time, but it wasn't the same. It just felt wrong. Seemed my heart wasn't in it anymore."
Harold’s eyes narrow and he tilts his head inquisitively.
“What about you, Theo?” Harold inquires. “What about your dad? How’d you end up an engineer?”
Theodore stifles a laugh and tosses his empty plate on the floor. The chief engineer's eyes become narrow slits in his face.
“Ha. My dad? Never knew him,” Theodore says. “My sperm donor father…Was a diplomat. Knocked my mother up while visiting a foreign embassy. My schooling was paid by means of large hush-money checks that arrived in my mom’s bank account every two weeks. And a nice allowance he gave me every three months, and on my birthday. Probably used government money too. I was never hurting for anything. Money-wise anyway. My mother wanted me to be an engineer because they make good money and never go out of season. My mom likes money…A lot. And I take good care of her. She always took care of me. That infotech stuff? I just do that for fun. Gets me into any place I wanna be. Landed me this cushy job with Dayshadow too…Being a jack-of-all-trades.”
Harold nods his head in silent agreement. After all, what can he say? No wonder the chief engineer is so screwed up.
Harold notices that Theodore’s eyes keep wandering to Teresa’s sleeping form. His brow knits and he watches Theodore carefully for signs of deceit. A difficult thing to do when a person’s entire presence screams malevolence. Theodore’s eyes return to Harold’s face and he grins widely.
“So…You and Dr. Boyd. You two aren’t…You know?” Theodore asks. He roleplays a crude gesture with his hands.
“No,” Harold says, rolling his eyes.
“So…If I made a pass at her. For real this time. You wouldn’t like…Be angry?” Theo presses further.
“I might be a little mad,” Harold says in a dry voice.
Theodore reclines back against the chair, his hands folded behind his head.
“I thought so,” Theodore says.
“Go to sleep, Theodore,” Harold hisses loudly.
“I’m not sleepy!” Theo retorts.
“Well, pretend that you are and stop talking,” Harold commands.
“Okay. You’re the boss!” Theodore says, closing his eyes.
Worry stirs in Harold’s heart. The idea of leaving Teresa awake alone with Theodore causes a wave of anxiety to spread all over. When the time comes for Teresa’s watch, he’ll simply nap and wake up in staggered intervals. If Theodore is planning something, he has another think coming.
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Theodore is sound asleep, his head hanging sideways over the back of the metal chair, when the sound of Dr. Boyd’s voice jars him awake. He barely maintains eye contact, the raw emotion behind Teresa’s eyes eliciting a primordial kind of fear.
The scientist grips a syringe in a clenched fist, the tip hovering only inches from Theodore’s throat. She lowers her lips to Theodore’s ear and vocalizes the hatred he can see brewing underneath the surface of her gaze.
“I want all the information you’ve got, Theodore," Teresa growls angrily. "Access codes, communications codes, ship’s logs…everything."
She is mindful to keep her voice down, as not to wake Harold. The young technician finally fell asleep after some coaxing, and a little white lie.
“You want me to untie you?” Teresa continues. “That’s the deal. You help us get out of this…I’ll see they go easy on you. For good behavior. You screw up just one time, Theo…And you won’t have to worry about Tech Bashir killing you. I’ll just shoot out your kneecaps and leave you for the Judases. You got me?”
Theodore’s mouth forms a thin line and he lowers his gaze to the floor. This side of Teresa is actually quite frightening to behold.
“The information…It’s there,” Theo confesses. “In my bag. The small pocket on the side has the device I use to scalp information from closed systems. You’ll need that too!”
Teresa offers Theodore a snide grin and he can’t deny the sudden heat which flows through his body. Despite her attempts to appear sophisticated, Teresa is every bit the fierce vixen Theodore suspected all along. And never has she looked more beautiful than when she allowed that tiny spark of evil to shine through her glossy veneer. His eyes slide down her body suggestively.
“Too bad you turned me down, Terry!” Theodore remarks. He returns Teresa’s grin with one of his own. “We might have made a good team.”
It is Teresa’s turn to look away. Going to Theodore’s bag, she opens the small slot on the side. Pulling out a small engineering kit, she opens a zipper on its side. Nestled inside is the small scalping device. As Theodore said it would be. When she glances up at Theodore, he is still grinning in her direction. Teresa’s face grows extremely warm and she rummages inside the other compartments of Theodore’s engineering bag.