Escalate Page 7

  That was all we needed.

  I stood. “Would love to dance, really. But didn’t it occur to you that Deanna was mic’ed and someone would monitor this conversation? Take it away, Deanna.”

  “Retribution,” she said, loudly and clearly.

  As a code word, I thought it had merit.

  Two seconds later, three armed police officers knocked on the conference room door.

  TWENTY-THREE

  “Hoping we can talk,” I said to Bentley. “Just to warn you, this is going to be a serious one.”

  He lifted his head from the computer and swiveled his chair away from his desk.

  “Nice to meet the author of Over the Cliff,” he said.

  Book titles again. Over the Cliff. Written by Hugo First.

  As in, this was going to be my conversation to lead. My smile should have been bigger, but it had taken me a lot of emotional strength to, first, decide it was time for the conversation and, second, initiate it.

  “The Cat’s Revenge,” I said, settling into a soft chair in the corner of the room.

  “By Claude Bottom,” he answered. “And how about Modern Giants?”

  “Don’t know that author,” I said.

  “Hugh.”

  I played along. “Hugh?”

  “Mungous.”

  “Nice,” I said.

  He smiled at me. I tried to smile back.

  I said, “This is about Elias Lang.”

  “Great guy,” Bentley said. “I think you’ll like him.”

  “Huh?” I couldn’t help but lean forward.

  “After my last conversation with you, I decided I was wrong. I did want to meet him. We’ve been Skyping every day since. He says I’d really enjoy Ecuador and the community he’s in. Nobody there treats people like us as freaks.”

  “Skyping.”

  “A software program? Allows people to have live video conversations, computer to computer or device to device or device to computer. Old technology, actually. I’m surprised you’re not aware of it.”

  “Yeah yeah,” I said. “You’ve been Skyping with Elias Lang. I get the Skype part. But not the having conversations with him.”

  Bentley shook his head and gave me a look of mock sadness. “Remember one of my favorite books? Advanced Thinking? I’m that author.”

  I nodded. Advanced Thinking by Smart E. Pants.

  “You didn’t think I’d look more closely into this after I found out you and Elias shared the same birthday and were born in the same hospital? Didn’t think I’d wonder why the report given to you by your hired private investigator answered the query as to whether Melanie Lang carried mutated GHR genes?”

  Only parents with mutated GHR genes could have a baby with dwarfism.

  “You hacked the private investigator’s computer?” I said.

  “Child’s play,” Bentley said. “I think there’s a bigger issue here. We’ve got another brother, and you’ve known it for a while. That’s where this serious conversation was going, right?”

  “I…uh…”

  “Let me speak frankly,” Bentley said. “Sometimes your protective-older-brother routine gets old. You make presumptive decisions without giving the people involved a say in the matter.”

  “I…uh…”

  “How did it work out, stepping in to fix Victor’s life because you saw him as another younger brother who needed help?”

  “Victor?”

  Bentley grinned. “Jo and Raven told me about the weird conversation they overheard while you were fighting at the gym. By the way, the school counselors have already made notations that he is likely a genuine sociopath. It’s going to be tough to make any progress there.”

  “The gym?” I didn’t feel smart, echoing Bentley each time.

  “The same gym that you purchased to protect Billy. Without giving him a chance to ask if he wanted protecting. I’m thinking that therapy for this hero complex of yours might not be a bad idea.”

  It wasn’t.

  “I might be learning some good lessons,” I said. “Could save me money on therapy.”

  “You’ve earned some redemption by deciding to let me in on Elias,” Bentley said. “I’ve been waiting for this conversation, but it was on you to come to me.”

  “Let me get this straight. You and Elias, you’ve been talking.”

  “Any idea how amazing it is for me to spend time with him? All his life the guy’s felt so alone and isolated and been treated like dog poop by his entire family, everyone thinking he was proof his mom had had an affair and blaming him for wrecking the marriage.”

  “Cool,” I said as neutrally as possible.

  “I can see how the two of you would click.”

  “We click,” Bentley said. “Definitely.”

  I looked away.

  When I looked back, I saw that Bentley had stopped smiling, and tears were trickling down his cheeks. “Jace, you’re not going to stop being my brother just because our blood types don’t indicate we have the same mother and father.”

  That was a fear I hadn’t even been able to admit to myself. But he’d nailed it.

  “I’m not losing a brother,” Bentley added. “I’m gaining one. Now there are three of us.”

  I found myself blinking back tears. “Hugo First wrote another book. Don’t know if you’ve read it.”

  “Do tell,” Bentley said, wiping his face with his left forearm.

  “The Secret Life of Lemmings,” I answered.

  It took him a moment. Then he burst into the deep laughter I’d loved hearing when he was younger. When he snuck into my bedroom late at night because he was scared or lonely.

  I didn’t know if there was a sound in the world I liked more than that.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Judith Graves and Natasha Deen—thanks for allowing me into the lives of your characters. You’ve made Team Retribution such an amazing ride.

  SIGMUND BROUWER is the award-winning author of dozens of books for children and adults, including Unleashed in the Orca Retribution series. He visits over 150 schools per year to deliver his Rock and Roll Literacy presentation, reaching about 60,000 students per year. For more information, visit www.sigmundbrouwer.com.