Page 5

A fter Mr. Blackbourne finished rearranging her schedule.

Adding in a violin class.

A class that didn’t even exist. There was a general band class of course, but it was full.

He forced the extra class into the school computer, one class for one person, and closed it immediately to anyone else. And he would be the one to teach it.

After, Miss Sorenson's grateful "thank you", a thank you just for him, echoed in Mr. Blackbourne's ears long after she’d left the room.

Dr. Green stood by the office door, leaning himself against it. "Heaven help me," he whispered to himself.

Mr. Blackbourne threw him a look. "Don't start."

Dr. Green shook his head, placing a hand over his heart. "I just had this feeling when I saw her in the hallway."

"It seems to be happening a lot," Mr. Blackbourne said. "Fortunately, you may have discovered exactly why the others are so distracted lately."

Dr. Green gazed around the room, and then became fixated on the discarded schedule registration, the one Miss Sorenson didn't need now that her classes were chosen. "Do you think Kota..." His lips twisted a bit.

Mr. Blackbourne considered the unspoken idea. "I won't put it out of the realm of possibilities." He didn't want to admit that Kota would be an absolute idiot not to try to date Miss Sorenson if she were at all interested.

He himself would have, under the right circumstances.

Then he narrowed his eyes. It wasn't just Kota though. The others were preoccupied as well. Unless they all happened to meet other people of interest at the same time, he had a suspicion it was Miss Sorenson alone who was dividing their attention.

But it was highly unlikely to be just romantic interest. The binoculars by the window they found in Kota's bedroom was not a romantic interest sort of thing. "There's something more there."

Dr. Green let out a "Hmm." It was half agreement, but also a question to mean, ‘What could be wrong?’

Mr. Blackbourne didn't want to believe anything was wrong. But belief wasn't tangible.

That haunted look in her eyes.

The fact that despite Miss Sorenson being beautiful, well mannered, and seemingly intelligent, all these features alone didn't seem to be enough to have the other members of the team be completely preoccupied by her simultaneously.

What would keep them all interested and secretive would be either Miss Sorenson knew something she shouldn't but didn't know what it was yet, or she was in a situation which was delicate and they were working on what to do next.

Dr. Green turned, but Mr. Blackbourne could see the turmoil in his eyes. He wouldn't be surprised if Dr. Green sought to find Miss Sorenson again before the day ended, just to confirm his theory.

"We don't have time," Mr. Blackbourne said.

And before Dr. Green could reply, his phone lit up, a phone call coming in.

“I don’t know this number,” Dr. Green said, and he hovered his thumb over the ignore button, but then suddenly took the call. “Dr. Sean Green,” he said in a strong tone, suggesting if it were a scam call, he would not tolerate it one bit.

Odd. Their phone system usually caught any scam calls. And unknown numbers were highly unusual, as their systems showed the caller ID.

Mr. Blackbourne waited, anticipating for Dr. Green to say something that would indicate who it was. However within a second, Dr. Green pulled the phone away from his face and appeared puzzled. He hung up the call. “This... this isn’t my phone.”

Mr. Blackbourne raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

“I mean, it looks like my phone, because of the case, but...” He paused, seeming confused. “Hang on, I haven’t gotten a lot of sleep. Dr. Roberts called me on this phone just earlier...” He blinked again and then looked at the surface of the phone. “Wait, no, this is my phone, but it isn’t the phone I used earlier.”

Mr. Blackbourne pressed a palm to his own cheek, rubbing with a slight annoyance. Dr. Green’s lack of awareness due to improper rest was going to be the death of them all. “Explain,” he said sharply.

“I had a sandy beach background this morning. This is a snowy mountain.” He showed Mr. Blackbourne the image of the background. It was one of a handful of generic images the phone’s operating system came with. “I didn’t notice because they were the same color scheme, grayscale, but I’m damn sure this was a sandy beach this morning.”

Mr. Blackbourne’s mind reeled with the possibilities. That Dr. Green dropped his phone, changing the background screen. That the phone operating system changed the background screen automatically on accident in an update. That Luke Taylor did it as a practical joke. Or...

Dr. Green suddenly gasped out loud. “That girl.”

“Who? Miss Sorenson?”

“No, at the motel. I was waiting in the front office of the motel when a girl bumped into me.” Dr. Green’s mouth fell open. “She swapped my phone out. With a different one.” He looked at his phone again. “What if the young man this morning...” He squinted suddenly, looking at his phone, holding it out between two fingers as if it were contaminated. “My brain is broken. I don’t know what I’m talking about.”

Mr. Blackbourne knew that tone. He did know what he was talking about. It was the phone that was the problem. Mr. Blackbourne instantly motioned for Dr. Green to put it back into his pocket and out of view for now.

When Dr. Green did, Mr. Blackbourne wrote down a question on his notebook and showed it to him. “Is the phone in your pocket yours?”

Dr. Green hesitated, but then nodded silently.

Mr. Blackbourne then wrote another question. “When was the last time you were sure?” He made hand signals, gesturing he should be saying something.

“Okay, well, we should get going,” Dr. Green said. “More students, after all.”

However, Dr. Green spelled out in the air using sign language, “Motel. When looking in on computer.”

Mr. Blackbourne tensed. That was a long time for his phone to have been in questionable hands. And he didn’t have a full understanding of what was going on, but it was critical they addressed this. Immediately.

He calculated the next move carefully. A possibly compromised phone, based on the hunch of Dr. Green’s lack of sleep and his own apparent confusion of backgrounds.

But it was enough. If Dr. Green was disturbed about it, they would have to address it. Their phones were critical. If it was out of their hands for even a moment, they could be immensely compromised.

They would have to get out of here. Go to the motel and try to make sense of what happened. At the same time, it would give them a chance to find that missing computer.

He'd have to bring the whole team, as more people would mean a better chance of finding it faster.

"Gather the others," Mr. Blackbourne said, and he stood. He started collecting his laptop, cell phone, and shutting down the desktop.

Dr. Green raised a brow but said nothing. "I'll bring the stragglers."

Dr. Green shuffled beside Mr. Blackbourne in the hallway, their footsteps echoing down the rear offices. They would have to temporarily block Dr. Green’s phone. Mr. Blackbourne’s car trunk should do the trick. It was lined carefully with material that would block signal while keeping it with them.

Were the others’ phones compromised? Or just Dr. Green?

"Where are you headed?" Ms. Walter’s voice was brisk as she caught up with them as they were coming to the end of the hallway. She had come out of another door that was connected to the central office.

Dr. Green shifted his weight uncomfortably. "Oh, just a stroll around the grounds, you know... keeping an eye on things."

Mr. Blackbourne tensed his jaw. He wasn't sure playing shifty was the right thing to do when they had an objective. He should have been more direct.

Ms. Walter frowned. "Registration's turning into a zoo. Do you mind giving us a hand outside the office? They're swarming to get their schedules finalized."

A wave of student clamor spilled from the office and out into the main hallway of the high school. They had to wait in line to give their schedules to assistants manning the computers, but the line had gotten out of control, with kids in a cluster in the office waiting area and outside in the hallway.

Mr. Blackbourne stepped forward, his shoulders squaring. In a booming voice usually reserved for addressing assemblies, he said with command, "Single file. Now."

Students scrambled as Mr. Blackbourne effortlessly established order.

Dr. Green took his lead. He approached, motioning to anyone who seemed confused as to where to stand. He even redirected students into the line that were standing outside of it, positioning them between each other. "There's three computers inside, line up at each once you get in the door. Outside the door, stay along the wall."

The students rearranged themselves, slowly, but eventually figuring out a way to not block the halls and keep the line organized on their own.

Mr. Blackbourne, trying not to look irritated at this simple line management task he had been stopped to complete, turned to Ms. Walter, who appeared shocked at their ability to quickly arrange things. "Do you think you've got it from here?" Mr. Blackbourne asked.

Ms. Walter nodded, her voice still a little breathless. "Thank you, Mr. Blackbourne. I appreciate it."

Mr. Blackbourne simply nodded and left as quickly as possible before being asked to do anything else. He didn't have time to cater to Ms. Walter.

...

The warm leather of his BMW seat was temporarily uncomfortable for Mr. Blackbourne as he waited for the air conditioner to activate. He watched the school doors, waiting for the familiar form of Dr. Green to shepherd the rest of their team to the parking lot. Their task could not wait—locating that computer at the seedy motel was essential.

However, the sudden issue of Dr. Green’s phone having possibly been compromised was critical. Any phone numbers, any information that was kept on his phone, even if Dr. Green was very careful, put them all at risk. Mr. Blackbourne willed the others silently to hurry along, because he had many questions for Dr. Green about what was going on.

Instead, a figure emerged that sent a jolt of surprise through him. Kota Lee. He moved without pausing to his own car, scrambling towards his beat-up sedan, eyes fixed straight ahead.

Alone.

And it was the look on his face that told him more.

Something was wrong. A tense beat pulsed in his temples. Mr. Blackbourne abandoned his car, striding purposefully across the asphalt. Time seemed to slow. Just as Kota reached for his car door handle, Blackbourne positioned himself directly in front of the vehicle, arms crossed over his chest.

Kota stumbled back, the surprise clear on his pale face. "M-Mr. Blackbourne? What are you—"

Mr. Blackbourne's voice held a steely edge. "I assume you're getting ready to transport the others to the motel?"

Kota's blinking reaction to Mr. Blackbourne told him he had no idea what he was talking about.

"You have a minute to tell me why you were leaving and if it outweighs heading to the motel right now," Mr. Blackbourne said.

Kota paused, and then he blurted out, “We said something stupid to...someone. And she left in a hurry. I have to catch up with her.”

Mr. Blackbourne paused. Her. Miss Sorenson. “It sounds very dramatic, but the motel is critical.”

Kota turned, squaring his shoulders at him, a stance that told Mr. Blackbourne he would not back down. “I can’t lose this...this position that I am in now. If I do, it might be impossible to get back. I know I’m being cryptic. I know I can’t explain things to you right now.” He took a step around the car toward Mr. Blackbourne. “I’m not asking for anyone else. I’ll do this part alone. Take the others.”

Mr. Blackbourne froze, taking a moment to assess this. He had called it drama to push him, and Kota had pushed back with more information than he’d anticipated. He was upset with someone else in the group, whoever had said something stupid. And he was determined to fix it.

“Wait,” Mr. Blackbourne said, although his voice was much more calm now. “You know that chasing someone running from you never really works out. Not when they’re angry.” He took his own step closer to Kota, and his voice softened. “Unless there’s some reason...”

Kota practically hissed as he spoke. “I’ve every reason to not back down. Not from this. I might let her calm down, but I’m going to be there and available when she emerges. And I can’t go to the motel and do this at the same time.” This time he backed up, his hands raised in a placating gesture. “I’m sorry.”

Mr. Blackbourne’s mind whirled, trying to put together what happened. Someone on their team said something utterly stupid, which put Kota in an awkward position to repair the damage, and he felt it more important than the motel and whatever was going on there. Kota was often very good with prioritizing, so if this...he suspected it was Miss Sorenson... was more important...

It was the dark circles under Kota’s eyes. The determined expression on his face. The stance. The defiance. He wouldn’t go to the motel. Not for all the Academy favor points they could offer.

Mr. Blackbourne's stern features softened slightly, caught between the Academy's needs and Kota's concern for Miss Sorenson. Finally, he relented. “Don’t go alone. Take Mr. Griffin with you,” he suggested.

Mr. Blackbourne trusted him, and cared enough about Kota’s now obvious priority to give up another member of the team even when they needed everyone on board.

Kota’s eyes at first seemed to register Mr. Blackbourne’s consideration with relief, but at the mention of Nathan Griffin, he darkened. “Not him.”

Mr. Blackbourne was surprised at the resistance. Nathan must have been the one to say the stupid thing that sent Miss Sorenson running. “From the sound of it, Mr. Griffin is exactly who you need right now.”

Kota pursed his lips and then slowly, he nodded. “You’re right. I do need him. If you can spare him.”

Mr. Blackbourne sighed. “I don’t know, but this isn’t a life or death situation as far as I know.” He hoped he wasn’t wrong about that.

Kota turned to his car, opening the door. “I’ll wait for Nathan, but I also can’t do all those other tasks—”

Mr. Blackbourne raised a hand. “I’ll be by your home later, after this is done, to discuss this in depth.”

“You know I can’t,” Kota said.

“As much as you can,” Mr. Blackbourne said with a determined look.

Kota blinked a few times, but he didn’t answer. He got into his car, turning the engine, and used his phone, possibly to contact Nathan.

Mr. Blackbourne went to his own vehicle to wait.

He desperately wanted to know what was going on. Miss Sorenson. A delicate connection with Kota Lee that was at the moment threatened to break and Kota was on his way to fix it. Something Nathan said. He didn’t think Nathan would be rude or crass to anyone to cause anyone to be angry, but... If he was misunderstood somehow, and likely given they were still teenagers and occasionally said stupid things.

Mr. Blackbourne pressed a palm to his forehead, rubbing as if that would smooth out the endless questions floating around in his mind. Within a matter of an hour, this Miss Sorenson was already upending their entire team, including himself.