Chapter Nine.
"Wow," Martin said, looking horrified.
"Shit would have been ok there." I grimaced, reflecting on the last few days. "Anyway, whatever happens, whatever the outcome, I'm glad we met."
"Me too, but that's way too maudlin for my taste, Gabe. Cheer up, we'll find him and then
well then, I guess Sterling does what he's paid for."
"Yeah, whatever that is; and we'll gallop off into the sunset."
"Sunrise is better, I think," Martin added, as we turned to the computer terminals and began to hunt.
It was a pleasure working with Martin. I knew I was good, but I'd always felt alone. Even though on-line I had as many people to talk to and bounce ideas off as I wanted, it wasn't even close to being with Martin in the same room
watching him as he spoke, seeing his reactions to the ideas we came up with. And I loved him, so I guess that gave the situation a whole different meaning, too.
We'd been at it for half an hour when the door opened.
"Hi, Lolly," I said, watching him take in the computers; he seemed nervous. "How're you doing?" Martin, who had started pacing up and down a few minutes earlier and was off in a world of his own, just grunted.
"I'm good, thanks, Gabe
erm
Davey was wondering if he could come in and watch."
I frowned."Watch what?"
"Umm
you hacking?" I glanced at Martin, who had stopped pacing and was looking at Lolly as if he'd just grown another head.
"Well, sure he can, let 'em all in, sell tickets. The performance starts in
," Martin mimed looking at his watch, "ten minutes!" He rolled his eyes at me.
"Ya know sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, don't ya Martin?" Lolly said. "Any way, I wasn't asking you." He turned away, and was almost at the door when Martin caught his arm.
"Lolly, look I'm sorry, I just meant that there's nothing to see. It's boring
we just sit and
type
."
"You forgot to mention the arguments and the violence and the blood, Martin," I interjected. "Sure, he can, in fact, Lolly, leave the door open, everyone's welcome
who knows who'll come up with the best idea, we haven't managed very well so far." Lolly grinned at me.
"Thanks. We're watching on the monitors anyway, it's just that Davey said he wanted to be, and I quote, 'where the action is'. I just said I'd ask."
"Huh?" Martin and I said together, and Martin looked outside. Sellick wolf-whistled, and there was clapping.
Another half an hour went by while I dissuaded Martin from killing Sellick, who he'd decided was at the bottom of a plot to embarrass me. Sellick in turn had got upset that Martin thought he was responsible and had flounced off into the kitchen and upset Apollodoros. Finally, after Jamal had threatened to throw everyone out, Martin and I managed to get back to work. JJ and Davey were sitting on the couch behind us, the door firmly closed and the cameras unplugged. Sellick had wanted to watch too, but after I'd explained how fragile Martin's weency brain was, he'd understood.
"That was fun, Gabe, and if mine's weency, I'd best get Jamal to order an electron microscope if yours goes wrong."
"Pah, and thrice pah, I say to you, stupid," I giggled; then remembered JJ and Davey were watching. "Computer programmers are all mad, in case you were wondering." I cleared my throat. "So where were we?" I looked at Martin with raised eyebrows.
"We were deciding which white hats we should ask," he replied, cracking his fingers. It made me wince.
"Pur-lease, Martin! My dad says that's supposed to be really bad for your joints."
"I'm seventeen, not seventy. Look, I can do this too." He stood up and pulled his t-shirt up, exposing his stomach. As if by magic his abs rose into a ridge, like a mountain range.
"Neat, very neat," I said, stopping myself from touching. "Bet you can't do this." I stuck my tongue out at him and curled it.
"Well then, no, I can't, but I
." JJ's and Davey's giggling halted us in mid-boast.
"Yep, you're right, JJ, displaying -- just like on those natural history programmes!" Davey said, grinning.
"The Bonobo twins!" JJ murmured. Martin and I couldn't help bursting into laughter, just as Sterling walked through the door looking grim, his gaunt face even more skeletal.
"Sorry to interrupt the frivolity, but another body has been found. We
."
"Whose body?" I interrupted him, as the guilt that I'd suppressed came rushing back. Sterling looked at me with an almost compassionate expression.
"We don't know yet, Gabriel
anyway, we need to find these people sooner rather than later, so if you two wouldn't mind
." He pointed to the computers. We sat down as Sterling turned and left the room, closing the door behind him. I was beginning to think the nightmare would never end.
"So
," Martin said, pulling me back to reality, "white hats
what about Kay9?" Martin said.
"She's not been around for a while," I said slowly, "or her brother. Shadowfax has vanished too."
"Sorry to interrupt, but what's a white hat?" Davey asked. I'd almost forgotten we had company and dropped the pad I'd started doodling on.
"Hackers are people who love programming and code -- they mostly do good," Martin said, as I bent down to pick up the pad. "Those who do no harm are called white hats, those who don't, and are out to make themselves rich and cause trouble, are called black hats."
"So you guys are
?"
Martin and I looked at each other. He was about to continue but I held up my hand, turning to face Davey and JJ.
"It's kinda complicated, but I was white, then black -- but not out of choice -- and now I'm white again. Martin's always been white."
"I
I don't understand," JJ said, looking at Martin.
"Ok, remember when we found you at the school theatre, and you'd taken those pills?"
"Yeah."
"Well, to find you I had to get into the phone company's computer, which was illegal, but I did it to find you, which was
erm
a good thing."
"Oh yeah." JJ was blushing, and Davey looked confused.
"So it's a grey area, then?"
"Pretty much depends whose side of the fence you're on, but yes."
I'd been half listening to Martin's explanation, and letting my brain do what it seemed to do so well, which was make connections.
"Martin! Let's open a room in IRC, call a confab and see who turns up. If we give them a few hours
and, I dunno, say there's another secret backdoor in Vista, they'll all come running, good and bad alike." Martin grinned, clapped me on the back and grabbed the mouse; then paused.
"For when and where?" he said, "Valerian's nearby, so we'd best go for a U.S front."
"Agreed," I replied, "but he's in it for money, so hopefully he won't see the trap. It's early morning in the States, and it'll take a few hours to set up so
lunchtime? Six o'clock here?"
"You've lost track of time, Gabe." He rolled his eyes. "It's already five o'clock."
"Oh," I said, glancing at the clock on the wall above the monitors, "ok, how about 11 PM our time, six o'clock theirs
which means we can hit them in the early hours of tomorrow morning?" Martin pursed his lips.
"Ok, you do the sites, forums and blogs, and I'll set up a secure passworded IRC server. That way it'll be by invite only and we can pre-screen them." He began bouncing up and down with pent up energy, and if JJ and Davey hadn't been in the room I might have leapt into his lap. As it was I just cleared my throat.
"Erm ... better to leave it open to all. With this amount of power and a T1 we can't lose them once they've taken the bait." He glanced at me and began tapping his fingers on the desk, before swivelling around toward JJ and Davey sitting on the couch.
"If there was a party, would you want to go more if it were by ticket only, or if it were open to all?" JJ and Davey looked at each other. "Ticket only!" they said together. Martin grinned and turned back to me, shrugging.
"Well?"
"Ok," I sighed, "let's do it your way then."
***
Two hours later everything was ready. Martin had set up the chatroom in half the time it should have taken, and had some of the blogs off my hands, whilst I was still leaving bread-crumbs in the hacker forums. The address for those wanting invitations was via an anonymous re-mailer in South America, and forwarded to the mail box of a small computer company in the U.S. Virgin Islands owned by D27.
Finally Martin sat back, and cracked his knuckles. "Done and dusted. Now we wait." I glanced at him and finished what I was doing, then got up and stretched.
"Food, anyone?" I looked over at JJ and Davey, who were both fast asleep on the couch, their heads lolled back. "Are we that boring, Martin?" He smiled.
"Nope, we're not. Pups just need to sleep more than old hounds." I grabbed his hand and pulled him up into a hug.
"I'm not sure if I like being thought of as an old hound," I said, starting to yawn. "Let's leave them and go find food."
"Oh, I wish you hadn't done that," Martin replied, covering his mouth with his other hand as he yawned too. "You know yawning is contagious, don't you?"
We walked though the living area into the kitchen. Caitlin was sitting, talking quietly with Apollodoros, who got to her feet as she saw us enter.
"You are hungry?"
"For your food always, Apollodoros, always." I beamed at her as she bustled over to the fridge, and turned to say hi to Caitlin, only to be drawn up short by her expression: she was frowning at me. Then she glared at Martin, and her foot started to tap.
"Are you gay?"
The temperature seemed to drop a thousand degrees as I looked at my sister, appalled. She was staring at Martin, but I knew the question was directed at me. He started to stutter and I shushed him.
"Why do you ask, sister o' mine?" I said, by some miracle keeping my voice under control. She was my sister, and I loved her, but Caitlin could be very manipulative and spiteful if she didn't get her own way, and I'd never gone face to face with her and won, ever. Still -- I thought, my brain racing -- there was always a first time for everything.
"You're holding hands," she said, in a rising tone. I looked down as I felt Martin try to squirm his hand out of mine, and found she wasn't wrong. I looked at him, and thought his 'fight or flight' reflexes were close to exploding.
"Too late for that, Martin," I said quietly, holding on to what now felt like a wriggling fish. I raised my head. "Yes, Caitlin, I'm gay. Not only am I gay, but I'm in love."
"You queer!" she screamed, still looking at Martin, who was shuddering. "You've perverted my baby brother into your disgusting filthy disease-ridden ways!" Her foot was tapping nineteen-to-the-dozen, and I could feel the doorway behind me was full of people watching, saw Apollodoros frozen by the cooker, felt Martin's terror, and it was Martin I was thinking of as I stamped my foot.
"Enough!" I said. Caitlin's eyes snapped to me and she let loose. Years of sibling rivalry narrowed down to a point, a moment in time.
"Enough? Gabriel, enough? I should say it's enough. I go away for a couple of months and you become a catamite for some four-eyed little jerk you met on the Internet. Did he groom you? Did you meet in the park and fiddle about behind the bushes before coming back to tell mother and father what a hard day you had at school? Did he
."
"Maybe you're not getting any yourself, sister dearest?" I interrupted, watching her eyes narrow as she went white, "you know, jealousy will get you nowhere. You think you're God's gift to the art world when all you really do is pout, and get father to send you off to the next impoverished Italian master who you fancy will improve your dreadful daubs!"
Somehow we'd moved around the table and were standing nose to nose. She slapped me: hard.
The tableau seemed to last forever, but it was probably no more than ten seconds after she slapped me that Caitlin sat down at the table sobbing, and Apollodoros sailed over to comfort her.
I was frozen. Caitlin and I had a love-hate relationship, but she had never gone this far before. I came to as Martin took me by the arm. We turned around, and I saw that everyone in the bunker had witnessed the scene. Nobody said a word; they just parted for us, and we walked back into the computer room and closed the door.
"Blimey! Your sister's fiery," Martin said, still holding my arm. I turned, pulled him into a hug, and buried my head in his shoulder, sniffling. If he hadn't been there to comfort me I'd probably have been in shock for a week: but the combination of his smell, the sweet nothings he whispered in my ear, and the way he rubbed my back brought me back to my senses. It also gave me a raging erection, though I knew better than to act on it.
Finally I broke the hug.
"I do love you, you know that, right?" I said. He nodded, and bussed me softly on the lips.
"Ditto, mon ami, ditto." We sat down. "Your sister's jealous, very jealous, but I'm sure she'll come around." He looked hopeful. I shook my head
"I dunno. I guess she'll tell the parents," I said forlornly, "and I honestly have no idea what they'll do." Martin gazed back at me, and I could see his love, could feel it rolling off him in waves. It felt good and it felt right, so I leant across and was about to kiss him when a knock on the door interrupted.
"Damn!" I murmured. The door opened, and Nick poked his head in. He looked nervous, his eyes sliding back and forth between Martin and me, which didn't surprise me a jot, seeing as I was sitting much closer to Martin than normal. On reflection I wondered if our knees had a thing for each other too, as they were touching, and we were swivelling the chairs again.
"You'd better come in," Martin said in a flat tone. I looked at him and frowned, sure he wasn't the type to be jealous; but he didn't let me catch his eye, and just kept watching Nick.
"Thanks
erm, Martin." He came in, closed the door and sat down on the couch. "Your sister wants too much, Gabe," he said eventually, rubbing his forefinger against his thumb. "And
," he licked his lips, "I only
."
"Erm," I interrupted, "it's been an odd couple of days." They both looked at me in surprise. "What nearly happened with us would never have happened if I'd met Martin earlier." I looked at Nick straight in the eye.
"Huh, but I
." He flushed.
"Let me finish, please, Nick
you see, I've been in love with Martin since I was fourteen."
"But you di
."
"Didn't know each other? No, not in reality, like we do now, bu
."
"What Gabe's trying to say," Martin interrupted, "is that this is like a consummation." I frowned.
"No, I wasn't, well I suppose I was, but consummation isn't the word I'd have used," I grinned at him, "that's for later!" Martin huffed and rolled his eyes.
"Too much information," Nick muttered, and got to his feet. "Well
just so we're straight, then."
"No, we're not!" Martin and I said at the same time, then burst out laughing. It was closer to hysteria, infectious, and Nick sat back down on the couch and howled too.
Typically, Sellick came crashing through the door, before disappearing once he'd decided we weren't killing each other. I was getting to like Sellick more and more, as under his bluff exterior I was sure he had a heart of gold.
Eventually we stopped. I wiped the tears away - and had a brain wave.
"MSN!"
"Huh?" Martin and Nick said.
"Oh, sorry, just a thought. Nick, mate, we were just about to have food when Caitlin threw a wobbly; any chance you could grab us something?"
"She's gone, Gabe."
"Gone?"
"Yeah, she wouldn't stay, so Sterling had her sent over to Thames House."
"Shit," I said, regretting the argument, "I guess it means we get the run of the kitchen." Nick chuckled.
"Nope, Apollodoros is still here. She wouldn't leave, she said she thought that your sister was being silly
," Nick frowned, "at least that's what I think she said
her accent's kinda strange."
"Yeah, you have to forgive her, she's Greek, and doesn't speak English too well."
We got to our feet and went to the kitchen where Apollodoros was humming and looking in the oven. I coughed to warn her she wasn't alone, and she turned, beaming, and grabbed me in a hug. She'd been in my life since ever since I could remember, and though she played the part of the family help very well, she was far more than that: closer to a second mother.
"Youse a bad boyse, Gabey, a bad boyse. Caity she veery uns'happys."
"Sorry, Apollodoros," I sniffed, "I didn't know she'd be like that." Apollodoros gave me a final squeeze and a slap on the bottom before pushing me away and walking over to Martin.
"Youse hurts hims and youse has me to dealsy vith." She gave him a stern look, then smiled and pinched his cheek. I sighed with relief. Apollodoros only ever pinched people she liked. Martin looked at me, confused. I grinned back.
"She likes you!"
"Oh
that's good then, is it?"
"It's brilliant! And
and she's cooking moussaka!" I was salivating. The moussaka said it all. If Apollodoros had been upset she'd have never cooked my favourite dish.
We'd kept our distance since we'd come into the kitchen, and as I walked over to Martin -- who was still looking a little unsure -- and pulled him into a hug, I was very aware that Nick and Apollodoros were watching. It didn't concern me anymore. What was past was past. I'd found my soul mate. I had Martin, and nothing, nothing was going to get in the way of the future.
How wrong can you be?
Chapter 8
Index
Chapter 10
Seraph by Camy © 2006/2007/2008
Thanks to Kitty, for all the editorial input and tweaking.
She has made this tale much, much better than it was. Gassho.
